Who wants another round of “you’ve got this” when it comes to pricing your jewelry? You do!

Pricing is still top of mind for almost every jeweler I meet with, heck, pricing it top of mind for most makers I know. Inflation, tariffs, and the shifting sands of commodities pricing are all adding up to our collective feelings of uuuuuugh.

So hit pause on the doom spiral for a moment (I promise the doom will still be there). 

Take a moment to audit your jewelry pricing strategy

Step back and assess your business and your current pricing strategy. As of this writing it is August and the New York trade shows just finished up – how were they? Did buyers understand the higher prices? Was there push back? If they balked at your jewelry prices, how confident did you feel sticking to them? How educated were they about the state of the jewelry industry right now?

You might need different levels of education for your direct consumers and your wholesale buyers right now. A store buyer might (MIGHT) be more educated on rising costs, but your direct consumers might need more guidance. Meet them where they are, but don’t let them bully you.

Why staying on top of changes your costs and developing relationships matter in pricing

Once, at an early trade show, years after silver had crossed into the double digits, a buyer tried to tell me that my prices were “too high” and that she “couldn’t sell at a 3x mark up” like she used to be able to. This comment came from someone who had years of experience owning a gallery, but hadn’t kept up with the changes – she hadn’t kept up her own education.

She absolutely didn’t want to hear that silver costs had gone up, or that the cost of running a professional jewelry production business meant having to turn a profit. She expected all artists to eat the rising costs. She wasn’t interested in developing a relationship with her vendors. By extension, this means that she wouldn’t be interested in putting in the work to educate her clientele.

She was probably worried that her business wouldn’t survive if she introduced higher priced silver jewelry – understandable! Most jewelry designers in the US have had those thoughts too.

In this scenario, had she taken the time to learn, we could have developed a line just for her store to grant exclusivity rights. If she was interested in educating herself, we could have worked out language and messaging that she could share with her clientele. There was work to be done and a relationship to build that would have not only justified the higher prices, but would have kept the money flowing into her business.

Pricing jewelry is never a static exercise, it is dynamic and requires a human approach to connect to consumers.

What could your next steps be in pricing your jewelry, and what questions can you ask?

So in this time when you step back from the doom spiral of increasing gold costs, have a look at your business systems. What are you doing to educate your customers? Do you work to maintain relationships with your buyers and your direct consumers? Are your markups reasonable (the answer is probably yes)? Do you have a selection of work that can work across multiple stores and sales categories?

When working out pricing strategies with my clients, this is all part and parcel of crafting what works for each jeweler – taking into account their customer base, their sales strategy and their future goals. It’s about calculations too, and formulas, and about psychology, relationships and having a future to look forward to.

Stepping back and considering the totality of your business, your personal financial goals and your creative goals can help pause that doom spiral and keep your confidence in your pricing high.

How about you, can you hit pause and do a review of your pricing systems and strategies? I think you can.

Ready to dive into your own personalized pricing strategy? See what’s involved and let’s talk!