Selling Jewelry through Galleries and Shops

Selling jewelry by consignment is a widespread approach for both beginners and professionals.

It takes more than just approaching shops and galleries and presenting them your work.

To succeed, you may want to work on market research.

Consigning your jewelry in shops and galleries implies:

• Knowing what consignment is (understanding the deal)
• Doing your market research before consigning (evaluating the chances of your jewelry being sold)
• Preparing yourself to approach the shop or gallery with your stuff (selling your work to the shop or gallery)
• Building a relationship with the shop or gallery (encouraging trust with the shop and learning from your customers)
• Increasing your chances of sales through the above method (personalized marketing and knowing your customers)

What consignment is all about

It’s about placing your jewelry in hands of a shop until the goods are sold.

According to wikipedia: “the consignee (you) pays the consigner (the shop) a portion of the proceeds from the sale.

Payment is not made until and unless the item actually sells”.

A consignment deal is like two faces of the same coin (the coin being the consignment deal):

One face is the shop which needs great quality and innovative items to sell and to distinguish itself from other shops – ie: they need your unique jewelry at a convenient price.

The other side of the coin is you and your work; you want to sell your jewelry at the best possible price and have lots of people see it and fall in love with it to make yourself a living.

What I recommend, is to strive to achieve a win-win situation.

The shop will not pay you anything before selling your jewelry (only really famous jewelers are able to sell their jewelry directly to a gallery and the gallery will buy it from them outright).

Depending on the deal you negotiate, you will split the price paid by the customer between you and the shop (it is usually 60% for the artist, 40% for the shop, but it may vary from 80/20 to 50/50); so your earnings will always be a percentage over the price sold.

You put the design effort, the perfect craftsmanship and your technical expertise and the shop puts their recognition, location and sales power. You want your jewelry to be sold as quickly as possible, a good deal of potential customers looking at your work, a great selling jewelry attitude and respect for your stuff.

Shops are looking for new and exciting jewelry, innovative designs, and a reliable and honest jeweler.

However, your consignment deal must first meet your own wants and needs and boost the sales of your work.

Don’t forget that consigning is also a great way of building a reputation and marketing yourself as a great jewelry artist.

To do that you’ll want to know:

• How to choose the right shops or galleries,
• How to negotiate the selling of your jewelry to your advantage,
• How to increase your sales, and
• How to learn from your customers.

Just before starting your own consignment deals, I suggest reading some of these articles related to all the above.

Find out how to do your market research, it is the starting point for choosing the best galleries and shops to offer your work.

Then take a close look at the article about making the consignment deal, this will lead you through how to approach the place, negotiate with the owner, how to reach a win-win deal, show your work to appeal to the owner and start building a retail relationship.

There’s also an article dedicated to maintaining and nurturing your relationship with the shops and galleries that sell your work. This is vital for having feedback about your work, to know about what customers want, selling jewelry quickly, foreseeing trends and deepening the selling process.

Consignment Do´s and Don’ts

• Do approach the shop or gallery simply offering your jewelry, not stating from the start that you want a consignment deal, you never know what might be offered to you.
• Don’t limit yourself to consignment arrangements, try negotiating other types of agreements to show and sell your stuff.
• Do foresee any information, examples of work, packaging and paperwork supplies you will need when negotiating.
• Don’t just arrive to the shop without agreeing a meeting, or without examples of your work, the proper paperwork and stationary and/or all the utensils needed for the deal.
• Do listen carefully and empathically to the owner’s need and wants and have a win-win mentality (without giving away your work).
• Don’t brag about how great a jeweler you are (but do objectively inform about your education, experience and any awards and honors you may have), or insist upon your rigid selling policies and other requirements.
• Do have a positive attitude when your work is rejected, never fail to see the big picture, it’s about your career not today’s sales.
• Don’t take a rejection personally, leave your contact information and walk away smiling and saying that you hope to make business with them in the near future. Never leave annoyed with the owner.
• Do talk honestly about the price of your work and about the consignment deal with the shop owner, you can even propose a different kind of deal if the owner is open to discussion.
• Don’t just accept any arrangement the shop or gallery offers you, always negotiate the deal and arrive to a win-win situation. Your work should be respected and appreciated.
• Do offer helping them out with ideas as to how to display your jewelry, you might have a special kind of “system” to exhibit your design better. It is in the best interest of you and the shop owner to display your jewelry for maximum sales.
• But don’t command or insist upon displaying your jewelry the way you want it to be. Window space is highly competed in every shop, for example, and you’ll have to nurture a relationship with the owner before exhibiting your work at the shop’s best spot.
• Do talk directly to the shop owner or manager, it’s best to talk to someone that has decision making power, instead of trying to “sell” your jewelry to sales personnel or other employees.
• Don’t mistreat the sales people in any way (no offences or prejudices) they are your “best friend” in consignment deals; a good salesperson is worth many consignment deals. Always approach them using their name; when they trust you, you might be able to get invaluable information about the needs and wants of your customers from them.
• Do stop by from time to time to see how the selling is going on. Shops and galleries like it when their artists seem interested in their deal, which shows professionalism, enthusiasm and regard.
• Don’t just abandon your work until the shop gives you a ring. Be proactive.