Jewelry is as timeless as the pyramids of Egypt, often symbolizing beauty, sentiments, and wealth. Over time the designs might have changed, but the emotions and charm of something like a wedding ring are enduring, transcending generations. This ceaseless demand continues to spur business in the industry – involving crafters, designers, investors, traders, and businesses involved in the value chain.
According to Statista, the worldwide online jewelry market is predicted to reach a value of $117 billion in 2027. These are promising numbers, indicating an opportunity in the industry to conduct jewelry business via online channels. In this blog, read valuable insights on how to start an online jewelry business and enter this thriving and continuously growing industry.
Given the involvement of multiple skilled professionals, businesses, and specialists ― online jewelry businesses can work in any of the multiple niches and business models to connect buyers with their needs. Let’s see how this can be done.
Catering to the luxury end of the market with high-ticket products, fine jewelry includes rare gemstones, precious metals, and unique designs – crafted with extensive attention to detail. Buyers may also buy fine jewelry for long-term investment, as some pieces increase in value over time attracting high resale prices. Wedding bands, engagement rings, and gemstone earrings are some examples of fine jewelry.
Fine Jewelry Popular Player: Boylerpf
Currently, fine jewelry is majorly sold as a product category on luxury eCommerce marketplaces like Nordstrom, via multi-retail omnichannel businesses like Mejuri, or eCommerce marketplaces like Boylerpf.
More accessible and affordable, fashion jewelry is more dynamic and caters to the latest trends and styles. It involves the use of affordable raw materials like faux gemstones and electro-plated metal. It also incorporates more economical development processes. However, fast fashion trends may mean styles can go out of style faster, so the marketplace business model is ideally suited to this jewelry niche.
Fashion Jewelry Popular Player: Jedora
Jedora is a dedicated eCommerce marketplace for jewelry, watches, and gemstones. It connects popular and upcoming brands, designers, and best-in-class manufacturers, with the buyers.
Going by just the meaning of these words, vintage refers to jewelry dating from more than fifty years to less than a century old items, while antique is more than a century old jewelry. To add a reference to the design of the item, the eras throughout history are divided as Georgian (1715 – 1830), Victorian (1830 – 1900), Art Nouveau (1890 – 1920), Edwardian (1900-1920), Art Deco (1920 – 1935), Retro (1935 – 1960), Mid-Century Modern (1960-1975). Jewelry under these categories includes both items that are pre-owned possessions from that period and reproductions/replicas of these items.
Vintage and Antique Jewelry popular players: Eragem, Antique Jewelry Mall.
While Eragem sells authentic pre-owned vintage/antique jewelry, Antique Jewelry Mall sells both authentic and replicas.
How can a Jewelry eCommerce business offer sustainable, cost-efficient products, without needing to own any inventory? The answer is a P2P resale eCommerce platform. On such a platform, users can either register as sellers to sell pre-owned products they don’t wish to own anymore ― or register as buyers to buy these from the sellers. The role of the business is to facilitate these transactions. However, some P2P platforms play a more active role as intermediaries ― by authenticating the products before the buyers purchase them.
Pre-owned jewelry marketplace popular player: WP Diamonds, Louped
WP Diamonds is a P2P jewelry marketplace for the trade of pre-owned products. It offers pre-owned diamonds, fine jewelry, luxury watches, and other designer high-ticket products.
While the niche for this marketplace is the same as a jewelry resale platform, the business model varies. On such a platform the sellers can auction their products for the buyers. Such businesses generally cater to expensive products.
Jewelry auction marketplace popular player: Worthy
Worthy is a jewelry auction platform that allows sellers to auction pre-owned items. The buyers are vetted by Worthy to facilitate trust on the platform.
Closely related to vintage jewelry, a collectible marketplace allows sellers to sell jewelry beyond just wearables. These can include jewelry like timepieces or home decor. Moreover, these can include a wide assortment of jewelry beyond crafted metal and precious stones.
Collectibles popular player: Ruby Lane
This is a marketplace for wide-ranging collectibles. It allows sellers to offer a fixed price for products along with the option of RFQ.
“Made-to-order,” or personalized jewelry for each buyer, is a niche in itself leveraging custom designs by boutique sellers. While buyers get personalized adornments, custom-processing can be time-consuming, catering to specifically high-ticket sales.
Custom Made Jewelry popular player: Blue Nile
Blue Nile is a jewelry e-retailer, renowned for its extensive and exquisite collection of high-quality diamonds and fine jewelry. It offers an intuitive interface that allows buyers to personalize their chosen items.
While users can sell jewelry in good condition on auction or resale e-marketplaces, what about broken or unusable jewelry? Such jewelry is sold to wholesalers who give cash in return. Starting with an online jewelry marketplace that connects users with this need, allows businesses to operate in a largely exclusive niche.
Jewelry Dealing popular players: Cash For Gold, Express Gold Cash.
Express Gold Cash gives cash payouts for gold, diamonds, and other jewelry.
Connecting supply chain participants in B2B trade through digital channels, and aggregating a fragmented industry – often streamlines operations, expedites bottlenecks, brings in additional value, navigates complexities, and adds transparency to processes. The jewelry B2B trade is no different and has global opportunities for smaller or bigger businesses to explore digital sales disruption.
Jewelry B2B marketplace popular player: UNI Diamonds
UNI Diamonds is the world’s first B2B diamond trading platform based out of Israel. The marketplace streamlined B2B diamond trade with a platform that provides transparency in the ecosystem. Traders can evaluate, bid, or buy diamonds in a digital ecosystem that has revolutionized legacy processes with a purpose-built eCommerce platform.
With rising climate crisis awareness, consumers are being increasingly drawn towards sustainable products. The jewelry industry is no different. Given this trend, eCommerce marketplaces catering to such consumer needs have a good opportunity.
Jewelry B2B marketplace popular player: Brilliantearth
This is a marketplace for jewelry that is ethically sourced with traceable origins.
The business ideas we discussed above are doing well in the industry ― having been adopted by successful eCommerce businesses. However, the jewelry industry is a dynamic ecosystem, especially when facilitated by eCommerce. This means further opportunities. So let’s discuss some opportunities that haven’t been explored upto the limit. At the moment, some of these niches are fragmented. Some have sellers operating on bigger horizontal businesses like Etsy, while some have online stores. So there are opportunities to be explored. Some of these are:
Example of an eCommerce Business: Shapeways
Example of an eCommerce Business: Ultrahuman
Something you would have observed in the section above, that there are multiple opportunities for the taking in the jewelry industry. However, to encash on these, you can follow a process that lets you start a jewelry business online.
The first thing to starting an online jewelry business is you want to understand the market. Get pivotal data to work with. Some questions that need an answer are:
Decide the role you want to play in the eCommerce marketplace. There are a few alternatives that you can analyze:
The business model of the jewelry eCommerce platform depends on your chosen idea. Let’s discuss the options:
In an eCommerce marketplace, your options for primary revenue streams are the following:
Depending upon the chosen business plan and strategies, operative niche, and other factors, the eCommerce platform will need some essential functionalities. Let’s see some pivotal of these for online jewelry marketplaces.
These are some of the essential features for starting an online jewelry business. However, you may need more if you have a very specific business plan.
After evaluating your needs, you can proceed with the next step, i.e. building your eCommerce platform. It is recommended that you prefer a turnkey jewelry eCommerce solution for your business. These undercut both the costs and go-to-market time frame for a startup business when you compare it to the traditional eCommerce development approach.
Moreover, your eCommerce journey will unfold, bringing in new considerations for you at each step. Hence, it is important that you prioritize a customizable eCommerce solution that is also holistically supported by a team that you can partner with for the long term.
After the platform has been deployed, the next significant endeavor is to put your business in front of the target audience, i.e. market your jewelry eCommerce platform. Let’s discuss a powerful and comprehensive marketing strategy that business owners can leverage for their jewelry marketplaces to help them stand out ― and achieve their business goals.
In essence, the online jewelry industry is thriving and presents opportunities for both new and established businesses. A Jewelry marketplace platform can serve as a central hub to attract and build trust with customers. To leverage a distinct USP, the marketplace can be built to cater to a specific sub-niche or cover alternate business opportunities within the jewelry industry.
Success in this industry requires a strategic approach, adaptability to changes, and a focus on branding, industry trends, new products, and marketing strategies. Maintaining strong customer relationships through various channels is also crucial. It is important to balance technology, marketing, and human operations to create a satisfying and engaging customer experience.
To build a jewelry eCommerce platform, Yo!Kart, a leading turnkey solution can provide a convenient, fast, and affordable way to build a contemporary Jewelry platform with essential eCommerce features, pre-integrated business APIs and payment gateways. Additionally, any personalization required can be availed with the in-house Agile team.
Q. How much does it cost to build an online jewelry platform?
Ans: To build an online jewelry platform, you have to take into account expenses in the website development,such as planning, designing, developing, and testing the platform. Generally eCommerce development companies charge on a per hour basis. So the total investment can range from hundreds to thousands of dollars, depending on your goals and target market. However, if you opt for a turnkey solution instead, you can undercut these costs significantly, provided you choose wisely.
Q. How can I launch an online jewelry marketplace?
Ans: To launch an online jewelry marketplace consider following these steps:
Step 1: Research: conduct a comprehensive research regarding the audience, product price, demand, existing competition, and availability of suppliers.
Step 2: Design Your Business Strategy: Analyze and decide on your business strategy, how and what type of role you want to play in the business.
Step 3. Develop your business model: Choose between B2B2C, B2B, P2P, and C2B business models.
Step 4: Decide on Revenue Streams: Choose between commissions, subscription packages, and ad monetizing.
Step 5: Build your jewelry eCommerce platform: Choose a capable turnkey solution to build your platform.
Step 6: Market your online jewelry business.
Q. How can I effectively market my online jewelry business?
Ans: To market your online jewelry business, consider following these tips:
– Launch Paid Media Advertising Campaigns.
– Collaborate with Influencers.
– Create Content Marketing & SEO Strategy.
– Launch a Newsletter.
– Leverage User Generated Content (UGC).
Q. How do I choose the right e-commerce software for my jewelry business?
Ans: The right eCommerce software for a jewelry business can have the following virtues:
– Features to allow the sellers to sell and build their brand. Some of these are independent storefront and a product catalog with purpose-built functionalities.
– Similarly, the marketplace operator will need to build a cohesive ecosystem that supports eCommerce operations for all the participants and allows them to churn revenue from the business.
– Moreover, a focused approach that gives buyers a shopping experience they are used to in offline jewelry stores.
– The eCommerce platform needs to be secure and also facilitate transactions reliably.
– Finally, ensure that the eCommerce software is a good long term solution. For this, a marketplace solution that is popular, customizable and has the support of team, will help you navigate through unpredictability and complexities in your eCommerce journey.