How to Create your Cohesive Jewelry Collection
We Give You the Steps, You Implement
We have all walked into that jewelry store with a bunch of random pieces of jewelry. There is a somatic experience when you walk into a place like that: it feels scattered, cheap, and overwhelming.
That’s in brick and mortar stores. On an online store, there’s a very similar feeling, and the bounce rate is high on sites where the customer can’t find their place or can’t see the overarching brand’s story and contribution. Decide to “be somebody” as a brand and you will connect with more people than you can imagine.
If you are a jewelry brand going for a mid- to high-end look and feel, this article will help you put together or expand your existing 925 silver jewelry line in a cohesive way that will show customers that you know who you are as a brand and that you are serving a specific audience.
Demand
When you create product lines, the most important question to ask is, “is there a market for this?” In other words, will people want to buy what you’re selling?
Think about what is classic and timeless and what is trendy. There is always a market for these kinds of products.
At ELF925, we carry a variety of both trendy and classic pieces that are high quality. In contrast to other wholesale companies, our products are made of 925 sterling silver or surgical steel. These high-quality materials always have demand.
Branding
When you are looking at what kind of products to add to your line, they need to be on-brand and also serve your niche. Your niche is serving a certain type of person: Are you serving the feminine girly girl? Are you serving the punk teenager? Are you serving someone who is really into high fashion and glamour? Are you serving someone who rides motorcycles and wears leather? Are you serving someone who is boho chic and likes to ride her bike across town?
Once you decide on your ideal customer, create an avatar of her. What kinds of jewelry does she wear? She will probably have an eye on the trends as most people do. Are you catering to those trends, or are you sticking to your tried and true branded designs?
Of course to stay on brand you will need high quality silver 925 jewelry to continue being a reputable seller, and you can find this at ELF925.
Cohesive Line
When you know what your brand is, you’ll be able to easily spot the pieces that will look cohesive in your silver 925 jewelry line. Make a moodboard for your reference. If the piece you’re considering for your new line would be on your mood board, it’s a yes. If not, it’s a no.
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Perhaps there is a certain color palette that you choose, symbols that work together, styles that work together, or all of these. There are lots of ways to make sure that your product line is working together. Keep an eye on what is selling the best and worst so that you can retire products that aren’t working and continue to promote and leverage the most popular products for the highest return on your investment.
Every piece that you are selling needs to communicate the story your brand is telling. It’s easy to stray from your branding and sell products based on a trend or an impulse.
To test the cohesiveness of your jewelry line, mix all of the categories into one (earrings, necklaces, bracelets, rings) and if everything can be worn together while still looking difference, you have a cohesive jewelry line.
When you keep your target customer in mind and every product you offer fits into that customer’s lifestyle, you will market and sell your products with ease.
Developing Products
Look at your mood board, review your brand’s story, and make a list of products you want to buy for your product line.
Don’t worry about if the products exist or not—just brainstorm. Once your list is complete, tackle each product one at a time, keeping the customer in mind.
You can most likely find each of the jewelry products on the ELF925 website where we carry sterling silver jewelry. With a wide selection of jewelry, you will find everything and anything that you need for your product line at great wholesale prices and ready to be private labeled by you and your jewelry brand.
It is likely that your jewelry line will contain symbols and materials that match together. Some examples are astrological signs, animals and insects, or inspirational words. These can be spread across different types of jewelry like earrings, necklaces, bracelets, and rings in order to create the collection.
(Source)Alex and Ani is a good example of a brand with several cohesive collections. You can mix and match all of their pieces, and each collection has a theme of certain kinds of symbols that they incorporate into the jewelry designs. It’s clear that the symbols are carefully curated for each collection, and overall, the collections can be paired together with other collections—so much so that you can mix and match the charms on a necklace or bracelet.
(Source)Crafting your story
Every brand tells a story whether the company is intentionally telling a story or not. That means the brand has a personality and promotes a certain lifestyle. Ideally, your story is intentional and portrayed in all of your images, communication, and customers can easily identify it.
How did your brand start? What is the story behind why you and your team loves jewelry? What kind of language do you use to describe how much you love this business and why you love jewelry? Create a poetic and beautiful way to tell this story and inspire your audience.
The story can be broadcast through so many channels; through video and multimedia, photography, and through public relations. If you can begin telling the story to your local newspapers and influential fashion bloggers, you can gain customers and audience just by talking about yourself and how much you love your job.
From the story is where you draw out the inspiration for your collections. Keeping your brand’s story and your ideal customer in line, you’ll be authentically sharing about what inspires you to go to work every day, and authenticity will in turn help your customers get to know why you do what you do and why your designs are the way they are.
If you do this well, your story will come through the products that you feature in your collections and your customers will even start telling your story for you!
Further Developing the Brand
The imagery of your jewelry brand will make or break the cohesiveness. The photography needs to be consistent. Some ways to keep it consistent are to always use the same lighting and the same backdrops. Some companies go as far as to use the same models which can also help.
Keep everything outward-facing in your brand consistent and you will get the hang of buying new items for your jewelry lines.
Instead of purchasing every piece that catches your eye, you’re keeping your customers in mind at all times so that they will recognize and stay engaged with your store which speaks to them.
When are the times when you have lost sight of your brand’s signature style? Where are there holes in your collection? What is your brand story?
Make a list of what products and collections is working, meaning they align with your brand’s story, they bring in revenue. Also make a list of areas where you could improve so that you can start to focus time and energy on those areas.
Growing Across Seasons
We all notice that with every season brands change what they are selling. Winter 2015 was different than winter 2016. That’s because it’s a different time with different trends, influences, and current events. The world can change a lot in a year, or even in a season, and creative inspiration shifts with it.
With a brand that is professional, the jewelry will change every season but the pieces you bought in past seasons will still merchandise well with the pieces from your very first launch. When this is successful, the collection can be described as timeless and you have achieved a signature style that your audience can easily recognize.
Conclusion
No matter where you are in the journey of creating your jewelry line, you can use these points to refine and improve what you have so far. Maybe one product line is thriving and bringing in a ton of revenue—it could be time to consider adding another collection that could expand your audience, make your brand stronger, and improve your revenue numbers.
Maybe one collection or product is struggling—it could be time to re-think the items within the collection, retire those that aren’t working, and add new ones in that clearly have a market share available. Remember that each season is an opportunity to launch something new in your jewelry business—to surprise and delight your audience and customers.