Sell Your Jewelry Successfully at
Competitive Holiday Markets

© by Cindy Cherrington; all rights reserved

There are lots of holiday markets around where you could potentially sell your jewelry. This type of show doesn't have anything to do with handmade items, but it's people selling things for the holidays - everything from clothes and jewelry to decorations and food products.

For many reasons, this is a hard market for selling anything handmade. But it's especially difficult for selling handmade jewelry, because of all the resale jewelry that is around and offered at these shows.

I just came off a four-day holiday market, and I used some of this time to look at other vendors' displays and watch the crowd's reaction.

To be successful at these shows, you want to try to stand out and be a little different. You don't want to be just "another jeweler".

I noticed several things at this competitive show that you can do to achieve this goal:

1. Make your booth display appealing and inviting.

   A bunch of necks or busts with necklaces lined up may not be enough. You want to be able to attract the person who wants to just "walk" down the aisles peering in. Or sometimes the isles are so crowded with people that they can only see your booth from a distance. You want to lure them to your booth.

   To do that, you want them to "see" something in your booth. Either have displays at different heights so the person far away can get a glimpse, or have a picture or descriptive sign that will attract their attention.

   It's not a bad idea to leave just a little space for props. The people who had simple yet attractive props added pizzaz to their booth.

2. Lots of good lighting.

   This is an important part of your display. You don't want so many lights that you could land an airplane in your booth, but enough to show the brilliance of your handmade jewelry.

   Even spot-lighting different areas or displays creates eye appeal.

   Two distinctive looks I saw at this show that attracted lots of people inside were bright lights in a central area (center booth) or spot and/or mood type lighting that highlighted areas of the booth. There was enough light to see the detail of the jewelry in different areas without being too harsh.

   Poor lighting (strands of Christmas tree lighting) really hurt the booth of one lady with beautiful handmade purses and belt buckles.

3. Have enough stock to appear to have a big variety.

   I use the word "appear" because sometimes too much is exactly that - too much. You can confuse your customers with too much to choose from.

   I usually have more jewelry under the table that I can quickly access if someone wants another color of a similar style. I used to put all my stock out on display until I kept hearing comments like "there is just so much to choose from".

4. Group similar items.

   Another way to appear to have a variety even if you don't is to make small groupings of similar things. Whether by size, style, or color, make a small grouping using an odd number of items at different points in your booth.

   For instance, I have 18" lampwork beaded necklaces, which all sit at the same level on a bust. I will group three of them on the left side of the booth, seven in the middle and five on the right side of the booth.

   That way, they are noticed as a group and the customer's eye will keep traveling around the booth looking for more. If they ask you for more, you can direct their eye around the booth to other points, passing other pieces they may enjoy as well.

   Even if you only have enough jewelry to fill one 6- or 8-foot table, use small groupings of necks on risers to create different heights.

5. Keep the bulk of your stock up, and not lying flat.

   Towards the end of my show, my merchandise was very low. I just kept adjusting everything up and into groups, and the groups just got smaller.

   Even in the last hour a lady had a tough time deciding between the last three items that were equal.

   No one knows how much you start with - they just see what is there at the time they are looking.

6. Have a friendly salesperson to talk with customers.

   It is almost a must that you have a helper at such large shows. If you are ringing up sales, you can't speak to each person who comes into your booth and tell them about your product.

   I highly suggest you do anything you can to have someone help you at least partially. I do most of my shows alone, and on one of the days I had a helper during the peak hours of the show. Her presence made a difference in sales by assisting and informing others while I was ringing up sales at the other side of the booth.

   Also, if you do have to work alone, I watched the lady across from me just have casual conversation with the people, which kept them in her booth a second longer to look over her product, and they rarely left without something.

   She did have the "gift of gab," and I'm a rather shy person, but I noticed when I applied even a little of her tactics, my sales improved. So there is hope if you have to work alone.

These are probably things you have heard before a hundred times before. But I really took notice of differences at this very long show, and felt these were key points for selling handcrafted jewelry successfully at a large competitive holiday market - or any show for that matter.

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