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Competing With Imports

Sandra Paluzzi
The Bead Peddler®

Take a look around and what do you see - Chinese beaded jewelry!  It's all over the place - at Walmart's, at Macy's, at flea markets and even at some craft fairs and art shows.  Chinese labor is very, very cheap and Chinese goods are very, very cheap and you are wondering how you can compete.  You know you can't compete on price.

However, there are several ways you can compete.  One way is to upgrade your components.  Use sterling silver toggles and findings to increase your customer's perceived value of the piece.  Another easy way to compete is to come up with a more sophisticated design.  For example, Chinese charm bracelets typically have 3 or 4 beads with charms hanging between every 3 beads.  Come up with a different pattern - one which appears more luxurious and you can charge more.  You can find red hat charm bracelets all over the place, but red hat bracelets made with red and purple Czech fire polish and sterling silver beads do not come out of China.  Another variation to make your piece more valuable is to personalize it.  You may be able to find cheer leading charm bracelets from China but you're probably not going to find them with your school's colors. 

Where you sell is as important as what you sell.  It is a known fact that the same piece of 14k gold jewelry will sell for less in Walmart than in Lord and Taylor's.  Don't make the mistake of trying to sell your high end jewelry at a flea market.  It won't go.  Instead, place that same piece in a high end consignment shop or sell it at a juried art fair.  It could fly out the door. 

Ever hear people say they can get the same piece at Walmart's for half the price?  Do yourself a favor and buy at least one piece of Walmart's jewelry.  Put it next to your piece for comparison.  People will pay for quality.  I have successfully used this marketing ploy on the cane glass page of The Bead Peddler® website.  I offer David Christensen cane glass beads which sell in quantity for 140.00 a pound.  Chinese cane glass sells for 38.00 a pound.  I show them both on my website and offer both for sale.  The David Christensen beads outsell the Chinese cane glass about 25 to 1.  In the same vein, I know someone who sold hand made Indian feathered headbands.  He also sold the Chinese feathered headbands at a fraction of the cost.  He sold at jewelry shows and his goods far outsold the Chinese.  People saw the difference and bought what they liked. 

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