When it comes to jewelry, Marilyn Monroe once sang that people eventually lose their charms “but square cut or pear-shaped, these rocks don’t lose their shape.” This could be one of the reasons that the market worth of the global jewelry industry reached $257 billion in 2017. It’s a lucrative industry that’s quickly adapting to the times by progressively moving its presence online.
But it’s also a highly competitive market, and a survey revealed that competition, particularly from online retailers, is the biggest hurdle to a jeweler’s success.
The Challenge of Competition
National Jeweler magazine and Jewelers of America conducted a survey on what entrepreneurs in the industry felt was their biggest challenge. Of the 211 jewelers who responded to the survey, 27 percent replied that they felt competition was the primary obstacle for their businesses. Jewelers, who owned brick-and-mortar stores, felt that online retailers were threatening their profits. Marketing or lack of foot traffic was the secondary challenge for these jewelers, and some of them are figuring out ways to reach consumers effectively in the digital age.
Experts predict that by 2020, 12 percent of luxury sales will occur online and increase to 18 percent by 2025. This will pose a problem for jewelers who want to stay ahead of the competition. What can they do to increase sales and entice customers to enter their premises?
The solution could be great product photography.
Jewelry Glamour Shots
Great photographs of a jeweler’s products are important to many aspects of marketing. If they want to create a website, they’ll need the photos to show visitors what kind of jewelry they have in stock. Even if a customer plans on visiting the brick-and-mortar store, they may look up the product they intend to purchase online.
Although companies offer to retouch photographs of jewelry in bulk, Photoshop and similar software can only do so much. It’s important that the original pictures capture the luster and majesty of their subjects. There are a few tips that can aid in conveying and even magnifying the beauty of jewelry through photographs.
Lighting is essential in bringing out the splendor of gems and precious metals. The direction and the brightness of the lights depend on the color and cut of the gems in the photo. For example, a lot of white light will cause glares on the surface of faceted stones, so a diffused light will work better.
Photographers should also be mindful of focus. Some gems can be very small, while some pieces could have very intricate details that the jeweler wants to highlight. These need a careful eye and practice to capture correctly without the shot becoming blurry.
The perfect background will accentuate the beauty of a gem or accurately portray its charms. Dynamic and contrasting backdrops can bring out the color of a stone, while neutral colors could convey the charms of a jewel as they are. A jeweler should decide which effect they want for a particular piece.
There’s an old saying that goes “a picture is worth a thousand words.” When it’s a picture of a stunning piece of jewelry, it could also be worth thousands of dollars. The perfect photo can ensure that a jeweler receives every cent of it.
