Finding Perfect Accent Pieces

Own A Resale Jewelry Store? Three Tips To Keep Customers Coming To Your Door Instead Of Heading To The Competition

7 August 2016

Howard Jones

The resale market is huge these days—about 16%-18% of people in the U.S. will shop at a thrift store at some point during the year and 12%-15% will shop at a consignment store. While that's great news if you're in the resale business, the flip side of that increased consumer interest is increased competition. While you might have once been the only resale jewelry store in the area before, you could now be facing stiff competition from a number of new resale jewelry shops that have cropped up. How can you make sure that customers keep coming through your door instead of heading off to a competitor's store? Here are three important things you need to do.

Teach employees the art of subtly encouraging bigger sales.

Routinely building higher sales is an important way to build your revenues. Whether you cross-sell ("Would you like to see the bracelet that goes perfectly with that necklace?") or upsell ("A bezel setting is a little more expensive because of the extra gold, but it will make those diamond earrings look even larger."), you need to interact with your customers and make suggestions that can help raise the per-ticket price of each sale. Take some time to observe your employees in action. While you don't want your employees to hover over your customers, you want them to be attentive and make suggestions, especially if a customer expresses difficulty deciding what to buy. Your employees should be guiding customers who are having trouble figuring out what they want to a decision—that's service that ultimately benefits both you and your customers. You get the bigger sale and your customer gets something he or she wanted with less stress.

Give your customers something to add-on to each purchase.

You need to have on hand a steady supply of plain gold and silver chains that your customers can add to each purchase. Invest in some wholesale jewelry stock that can double as add-on purchases for your customers. Pulling down an 18" or 20" gold rope chain and sliding the pendant your customer is eyeing onto it before you encourage the customer to try the pendant on is a good way to quietly demonstrate the importance of buying both pieces at the same time. Have a chain handy in both the next size up and down, so that you can help your customer adjust the length for the most flattering look. By buying jewelry wholesale and in bulk, you can keep the margin on the chains low, in order to encourage their sales. Again, this is the type of service that benefits both you and your customer at the same time.

Offer alternative financing services.

Another way to get customers through the doors is to offer alternative financing options. The reality is that most people in the U.S. have damaged credit these days—56% of consumers have subprime credit scores that make it difficult for them to get regular financing or have credit cards. That doesn't necessarily make them unreliable people because a lot of folks have suffered through rough financial times in the last few years. Offer your customers alternative financing services that can make it easier to purchase your items. No-interest layaway plans with minimal down payments can help you help your customers return to the luxury goods market and increase your sales. Consider offering in-house financing to regular customers who have had a previous layaway with you and made timely payments in the past. That can increase your customer loyalty and your sales.

In today's competitive resale jewelry market, increasing sales and keeping customers is all about providing service that simultaneously benefits both you and your customers. 

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