Will “Social-Media” ever beat a trip down the high street?

Opulent Ethics were recently reading a Professional Jeweller article on how Jewellery Shops are loosing out to on-line brands who sell directly to the public and it got us thinking about the way that consumers shop these days.

The Great British High Street

Since starting, Opulent Ethics have begun this blog, constructed a website and registered on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn and sometimes we find that we spend all of our time logging into (and forgetting passwords of) different sites rather than sitting at the bench making up our designs.

But is “social media” all it promises to be or are there better ways out there to contact and build relationships with your client base? We know, as consumers ourselves, that on-line shopping is taking over from spending Saturday browsing around town. There is nothing easier than plonking on the settee in any old clothes with the TV on in the background and a cup of tea in one hand to look at the latest fashions but can this ever replace seeing an item in front of you?

For things like shoes and certain clothes we believe that you can’t beat going to a shop and trying a few things on. Certain items never look how you expect them to but with jewellery this may not be the case.

With the type of jewellery that Opulent Ethics produce everyone knows what silver or gold looks like and most consumers have a good imagination for the types of stones that we use so we think that it may be possible to successfully market our products without much trouble.

If the pieces that you are buying are brightly coloured or have specialised features such as movement though this may be more problematic as it is harder to visualise.

So how do you build a brand which people want to buy into on-line then without having stock in any shops? Well, if you find out the answer to that question please let us know! Opulent Ethics hope to build a brand which is renowned for quality, beautiful products which are ethically sourced and do more good than non-ethical jewellery but in order to do that we have to establish a name for ourselves.

And this is where a presence in shops and galleries and established on-line retailers comes in. We are of the opinion that we can build the Opulent Ethics brand up to a certain point with our current on-line presence but that there are limits to this. And this is why we hope, over the summer, to have some of our products for sale with other retailers as well as on the Opulent Ethics website.

It’s definitely something to think about!

For the full Professional Jeweller article click here.

That’s all for now....