Common Mistakes That Can Prove to Be Detrimental for Jewellery Designers in Online Business Strong and consistent social media presence is the key to a successful online business
By Radhika Jain
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
You're reading Entrepreneur India, an international franchise of Entrepreneur Media.
The jewellery industry has been flourishing. Jewellery designers are creating their presence online as the digital world is growing and the customer base is shifting to online buying. So the jewellery designer needs to pay more attention towards online business. However, there are some common mistakes jewellery designers make in online business.
Related : Why Indian Jewellery Designs are Famous in International Market
Inconsistent or Bad Photography
Visual images of your designs are your best marketing tool for online business. Consistent, quality photographs are a key to looking not only professional but also making more sales online and off. Having great photos is the first gateway to get a buyer to notice your work. A quality image of jewellery, will not only make the product itself look great, it will give a high-quality impression of your entire brand, particularly if all the images have a unique and consistent "personality" or "look and feel". Strong marketing images have uses far beyond your website. Instagram and Pinterest are popular social media networks that are built around visuals. So invest in top photography and consider it as an investment that will return your money back in sales.
Related : #7 Trends That Will Shape the Jewellery Industry in 2018
Not Investing in a Website
Third party websites like can be an awesome place to get sales and traffic. However, nothing beats having your own branded website. It provides legitimacy for your brands allows you to capture prospects or leads and creates a place for people to learn more about the brand resulting in more sales over time. Most jewellery designers know little about web design and web marketing. This often leads to a failure to understand the true costs of running a successful website. You should look on a website as bricks and mortar shop. Would you hire a teenager to decorate your new shop for a couple of hundred pounds? Or would you hire a professional shop outfitter and designer? If you needed the electrics refitted in your shop, would you choose the cheapest cash in hand tradesman going, or would you get someone reliable in to do the job? There is an old phrase: if you spend peanuts, you get monkeys. This is very applicable to website and e-commerce design. Quality does not come cheap, and if you can't afford it, don't do it.
Avoid Marketing Themselves and Magically Expect to be Found
So you had your amazing collection manufactured and you put it all up on your e-commerce platform. But no one is buying. This is because you aren't marketing it. If you aren't putting your jewellery brand out there, you can't expect to get sales. Create a strategic marketing plan and always be marketing!
Related : How Technology Has Changed the Traditional Gems and Jewellery Industry
Not Using Integrated Payment Gateways
A payment gateway authorizes payments for retailers in all business categorizations. They ensure that sensitive information, such as credit card numbers, entered into a virtual terminal or on an E-commerce website, are passed securely from the customer to the merchant and from the merchant to the payment processor through the use of encryption. So not using integrated payment gateways makes it less user-friendly. Hence there can be a reduction in the customer base.
Not Maintaining a Social Media Presence
Social media gives brands an opportunity to directly engage with their customers. Strong and consistent social media presence is the key to a successful online business. Often you can find a brand sharing the same posts across all their accounts on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Google+ and Pinterest. Although each platform tends to have its own user base, you will find that most people have an account on all of them. Once they find that you post identical content across all social media, they will stop following you on all but one- resulting in you losing the outreach and engagement. Having a messy social media profiles with irregular, poorly thought-through posts leaves visitors with an impression of an unorganised and unprofessional company.
