A Jewelry Trunk Show Idea

© by Elizabeth Marucci; all rights reserved

I am a recently retired teacher who has a love for jewelry. Before retiring, I began to think of what I could do to occupy my "empty days". Jewelry seemed like a natural, and I felt I could market it via craft shows, home parties, and the Internet.

Some craft shows are better than others, and you learn from experience. The one constant is that most people have a set amount of money to spend at a show and the more vendors there are, the more likely it is that people will spend their money elsewhere or not purchase as much from you. This can also be an incentive to make sure that your merchandise is a cut above the rest!

Home parties can be lucrative - or not. You lug all your wares, set up, and hope that there will be a good showing.

Then the hostess is apologetic and tells you that Sue is sick, Mary had to take her kids to church school, and three others had soccer practice or dance lessons! In spite of all this - you have to give the hostess a gift and a percentage of sales. Perhaps a catalog to leave for absentee guests might be helpful - although difficult, as the inventory changes frequently.

I was very excited about the possibility of selling my jewelry on the Internet, and purchased two gigantic cases of small bubble-wrap lined mailing bags because I was sure I would do very well in cyberspace!

Boy was I wrong.

It seems like everyone is selling sterling silver jewelry. I tried all kinds of pricing strategies - with a reserve - no reserve - start at $.99 and sometimes wound up selling at $.99! Some people sure got great deals!

I was getting very frustrated and was commiserating with a fellow retired teacher, and she came up with an idea.

When I was teaching, someone would bring books of all kinds into the faculty room with an order form. They were overstocks and well priced. Most of us bought them for gifts and for ourselves, and looked forward to the arrival of the next batch of books.

It was a no brainer! There was no pressure to buy, and a time saver for (primarily) busy working moms.

I approached my former principal with the idea of doing a jewelry trunk show, and he was very receptive. I didn't leave my jewelry at the school but selected a day and posted signs, and visited from 10 a.m. till 2 p.m.

It was great! I got a chance to visit with old friends and do some brisk sales. Now I usually make two visits each year.

Since then I have contacted other schools as well as hospitals, nursing homes, and other private sector corporations. I found that some of these companies even e-mail their employees about your arrival and do payroll deduction of their purchases over two pay periods, so they tend to spend more - and no worry over returned checks!

There are many businesses with strict policies forbidding selling in the workplace, but it doesn't hurt to ask. Contact the company's human resources person or ask your friends and family about selling your jewelry where they work. You might be pleasantly surprised at the response.

Good luck with your jewelry trunk shows, and use those creative juices to build your business. There's no reason why artistic souls can't be good business people also!

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For more ideas on selling your jewelry at various places of business, see Selling Jewelry at Work.

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