Selling Jewelry with Facebook Live

Facebook Live as a way to sell jewelry directly to the consumer? It was an idea that a young businesswoman picked up and tried out. Simply because she was bored by the slow business. Now, read her success story and perhaps even make it your own?!

Kerrville, a small town in Texas, caught my attention this week. A young inhabitant of this town near San Antonio, called Natalie Fitch-Peppitt talked about her innovative idea of selling jewelry during these trying times in the local newspaper.

According to this newspaper where I found her story, the Kerrville Daily Times, she was bored with the slow business during the Pandemic, in the Gold Cup Pawn Store owned by her family. She observed her mother, an avid buyer, and a salesperson at estate sales, specializing in jewelry and handbags. Also, the company owns a rather large collection of James Avery Jewelry. 

James Avery

I am not that familiar with James Avery, so I checked it out. A Texas-based company that goes back to the 1950s. Once they created hand-made jewelry, today as I swiftly went through the website, I imagine this is no longer the case, but the prices are interesting and the selection is vast. 

I did check out her live events on the Facebook page of her parent’s pawn shop and looked at some of the live sales she’s doing and indeed, there are about 1000 and often more people watching the streaming. Why I talk about this rather local event is that she quickly sold merchandise and people seemed to enjoy it. Here is a new way that could be improved massively and adopted by many more jewelers out there. 

Make jewelry shipping and sales administration easy

Before you jump into this, with gusto, I understood that selling live is one thing. The whole administration and shipping of the merchandise are another. You could be soon working more but earn not enough. Natalie’s success was a surprise to even herself and she risked becoming a victim of her own created success rather quickly. Making around 75 sales every time she hosted her Facebook Live session sales. 

Natalie tells the newspaper that she had to find a way to work more effectively and that she was recommended by her mentor to use a tool called Comments Sold, an interface for Facebook live events. Now, she works more relaxed and even hired her own assistants. Yes, all whilst a pandemic is sweeping through the United States. 

I wanted to share this with you today because what I loved about it is that we all talk about innovation and so on, but there are people that actually pick up their iPhones and start the innovation! 

Here are my observations of why this actually seems to work:

Why it works:

1. She seems comfortable with the merchandise itself. She knows it, she doesn’t make it prettier or better, she goes swiftly through them.
2. She seems to know the people who love this jewelry. Therefore, she doesn’t need to do much talking other than holding it up with tweezers (! ohhhh nooo) and holding it to the back of a piece of crumpled red paper. It’s an eye-sore, but it works! 
3. She works with a company that very obviously has a fan base and a following. Read the comments, and you’ll understand why I say this.
4. She makes it simple. She makes it real and authentic. What you see is what you get. 

It’s not the most elegant affair, watching these sales, but I am sure that many would love to be in her shoes right now. 

If you are in the business of selling jewelry, it might be an idea to start a live session on Facebook. Here is what you need to think about:

HOW TO PREPARE FOR SELLING JEWELRY ON FACEBOOK LIVE YOURSELF

1. How local is my business and how far I am willing to ship the merchandise?
2. Price point. Obviously, this works far better for a lower price point. But who knows! 
3. Try it with known brands. If you are a jewelry store, try it with brands such as James Avery, Pandora, Troll beads, and any other brand that is big on your market and you know people like to collect. 
4. No brands? Are you a designer? Why not make a fun event and sell directly too! 
5. Try to be personal and personalize what you offer. This can be done in many ways. Be creative!
6. Do your homework, but don’t overthink it. She used Comments Sold, but I am sure there are more solutions out there. 
7. Lights. I personally feel there isn’t enough lighting in her videos, but you might do better. Try to hold the camera still and use lots of lights, or sit near a window. 
8. Deliver! Once you’re on, you get a chance to deliver. Be the best in your delivery, exceed the expectations, make an effort, and win more hearts by sheer word of mouth. 

Surely, there are more Facebook Live events selling jewelry. It’s worth observing what they do and how they do it. I even found one that sold fashion jewelry all at the fixed price of $5,- plus taxes and shipping, Incredible and surely hardly profitable. But I am sure you’ll do better! :-)

You can find the live streams on the Facebook channel of the Gold Cup Pawn Store. 

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