Every top seller in the jewelry industry knows the importance of a lookbook for the business. Learn tricks from these successful jewelry sellers to compete with them online. Read this article carefully to find your way to victory.
Why would you need a lookbook in the jewelry industry?
A lookbook is a trend of the last few years. It also seems to lasts for a long time from now. There should be some good reasons for that. We have defined the top 3 reasons why a lookbook benefits a business if you are in the jewelry industry.
1. Jewelry sales shifts online
According to online jewelry sales statistics, the jewels e-commerce business grew by 14.2% in 2018. In 2019, more than 29 million people purchased jewelry online daily. In 2020, COVID 19 revolutionize the jewelry market by forcing most companies to shift sales online. As well as rethink their digital strategy. For example, the Courbet jeweler has decided to invest part of its capital in enriching the platform with functionalities based on 3D video and augmented reality. From now on, it will be possible to choose a ring in conditions similar to those of a physical store (LUXUS, 2020).
However, most of the companies in the industry do not accumulate that much capital to copy the Courbet strategy of dealing with crises. In this case, creating a digital version of a catalog allows the business to reach out to customers and don’t spend millions of dollars on R&D and innovation.
In addition to environmental forces, the power of buyers also encourages online sales. Millennials and Generation Z wield around $200 billion in buying power. At the same time, 67% of Millennials prefer to shop online, and 73% of Gen Zers shop online. By connecting the dots, you can see how attractive this niche at the market has become.
2. The is always an emotional connection with a brand or/and a piece of jewelry
… especially if we are talking about expensive jewelry. R. Bates (2020) came up with 9 psychological reasons why people buy diamond jewelry: I’m worth it; let’s celebrate; I did it; I want something exceptional; reflecting the qualities of a diamond; making the write impression; the promise of a diamond; redemption; purely a gift. We are not going to discuss each of them separately, but let’s sum it up. Usually, people are buying expensive jewelry as a gift for someone to show the importance of the person by the high price. Or to themselves as a reward or a method to underline their status in society.
Why would you need to know that? To create a brand identity. It has to meet the main reasons for the purchase. For example, despite the broad product line Tiffany always associates with the engagement rings; Rolex is a way to show who is a boss here, and Pandora is about traveling and collecting memories. Every successful brand has a clear and distinctive story behind it. So, the first thing you should do is to come up with the story, whereas the lookbook will help to tell the story to your buyers.
To achieve it, all the professional lookbooks and catalogs makers advise presenting a product on a person and within a context. For example, a golden diamond necklace on a white background says nothing. But if you put this necklace on the grandma’s neck and imagine a grandpa hugging her, you will see that this necklace is a symbol of life-long love. So, would you prefer to spend $1000 on a chain or the never-ending love?
3. Jewelry is a fluid industry
You want to stay up-to-date and engage your customers by updating the product range almost every season. It’s all up to you how to provide a supply, but a lookbook is a point where the supply and demand are crossing each other. So, what do you want to do is to present your latest collection as fast as possible, and a digital catalog is the best way to do it.
First of all, updating the digital catalog is a lot faster than transporting a new collection to the store, reorganizing other products, and do the documents connected with this action. With a digital lookbook, it’s a matter of a few hours. If you decide to save your time, keep in mind that with Catalog Machine, you can not only update your lookbook with a few clicks but also start receiving orders and payments right from the catalogs.
Secondly, going online is the best way to reach out to thousands of people at once. Selling from the store, you limit the target audience with a location factor. Whereas, if you can manage cross-country or even international shipping, you will pop it up in times.
Now you see the importance of the lookbook for the jewelry industry and maybe even want to create one for yourself. What should you know to succeed?
What is the trick?
The main focus of each lookbook is a photo. We would recommend you hire a professional photographer to be sure of the quality of the image. But what if you don’t have free money for that or want to create everything by yourself? We have created a list of rules; you should keep in mind to create a professional-looking photo of the product
- Product positioning – no matter who or what is at the picture, the product that you are selling should be the first that your clients see. You can use bluer everything else around to make it stand out, put it at the center of the picture, or brighten it up a little bit.
- Be careful with the lights – if you are shooting indoors, set up your white background “studio” with a window to either the left or right and a white reflector of some sort on the opposite side. You want to light your product evenly and without shadows.
- Never use zoom unless you have a professional camera – it will bluer the image. Come as close as it is needed.
- Keep your camera clean – even a little bit of dust at the lens could spoil the image.
- Don’t use a flash – unless it is removable. Remember, to strait light at the ‘face’ of the product.
- Don’t move the camera – use any kind of camera holders. Everything is better than hands.
- Edit the image after – you can find plenty of paid or free courses on the Internet on how to improve the photo.
Summing up, to be able to compete in the jewelry market, you want to create your lookbook. Go to https://www.catalogmachine.com/ to start improving your business!