For The Love of Beads BlogThe adventures of Suzanne, Nibbler, and friends in the world of beads and jewelry making crafts

One day, my wife and I had decided to expand our beading business and we came up with the idea that the best way to do it without neglecting our booth, or our jewelry making was to approach to a retail store. We soon found out that it was more complicated than we thought; putting your things in another place where you are not going to be selling them personally requires from you a lot of organization, even before going to talk to the store’s owner or the manager-in-chief.

For starters, you need to realize that you are going to attach yourself to a big promise that, in some cases, could involve legal liabilities. Therefore, you must be very serious about this. First of all, it´s very important to establish what kind of jewelry you are making and its potential market. From this, it decides what kind of store you want to approach. Once that´s settled, go to pay a visit and look around, but don´t make any appointments yet. Your goal here is to check out if they already have similar items to what you are trying to sell. Store owners always want to sell originals products.

In our case, the town where we are living in is a small tourist destination and there are many stores selling handcrafted jewelry. We decided to go to the most successful one around. Although we had known the owners for long time, in the end, that didn´t give us any advantage; don’t mix up friendship with business. We made an appointment first and showed up as the professionals we are. After all, we just were looking for doing some business and not for having chit-chat. So, before the meeting, we prepared our best samples and a detailed wholesale price’s list with double copy, one for them and one for us, always knowing that at some point in the meeting we’d have to negotiate our prices. Being aware that a big slice of the cake is going to be for them, it helps to establish a strong business relationship.  You can suggest a retailing price, but they have the last word about this.

We both reached an agreement in which they would take the merchandise on consignment and we’d go to revenue or check out the stock every week.  It´s not the best option as it might be weeks before seeing your investment back, let alone a profit. But, on the other hand, you can always take back the items they don´t sell and put them in your own booth. In that way you keep the display case fresh with new products every time you go. We also had offered to bring our own exhibitor, because it was specially designed to show our products. Of course, we also asked for the best spot in the store to place it.

If you are afraid that you could be rejected when you approach to a retailer store, yes, that possibility exists, but don’t give up. There is always a place for your creations and who knows, you might end up as the next designer who dictates the trend for the generation.