How to start (costume, gold, diamond and silver) jewelry business in Nigeria
Jewelry business is one of the untapped lucrative business in Nigeria, and the reason is not farfetched; dressing is not complete without a necklace, rings, and earrings.
Even if people don’t have money for it they will save up, I know some one that will not spend all his feeding money in other to buy cloth and jewelry.
It is a lucrative business that can give you millions on thousand investments perhaps because there is less completion in the business.
If you are reading this article there is a chance that you want to start jewelry business now or you just want to expand your knowledge on jewelry business whatever the case this article will be showing you all what you need to know to start jewelry business in Nigeria.
Before we go into it I want you to read and digest the following points
Niches of jewelry business in Nigeria
The niches of jewelry business should be retailer and wholesaler but rarely will you see someone going for wholesaler, especially in Nigeria what you will see is retailer, that is why we classifies the niches of jewelry business into to the following
Gold jewelry business
If you chose this niche your job is to buy gold in form of necklace, chain and sell it to final consumer. This is the most popular and the most lucrative but it is costly.
Costume jewelry business
Costume jewelry is cheap gold or silver usually sold below #10,000. It require less capital and it is very lucrative, since most Nigeria like cheap things
Silver jewelry business
Here you base only on silver, it require less capital compare to gold but it is less profitable since people seldom buy silver
Diamond jewelry business
Diamond is very costly, therefore it requires huge amount of capital to make it in this business, also you must know high net worth individual, of course you don’t expect poor people to buy diamond.
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Base on scale of production
Wholesaler
Your job is to buy from the manufacturer or import gold, silver or diamond and sell to retailer. You must have huge amount of money before you can start it.
Retailer
This is very common; you buy from wholesaler and sell to final consumer. Recently retailers no longer buy from wholesaler instead they import (mini importation) it.
Note
If you have low capital I will advise you to start from costume or fashion jewelry, and move up the ladder.
How to source for jewelry in Nigeria
Most people don’t know that there are Jewelry producers in Nigeria; they thought all the jewelry use in Nigeria is imported.
While 70% of jewelry sold in Nigeria is imported 30% are source locally from the below jewelry maker brand
- Bimbeadslry
- Kunbi works
- Hadash jwery
- Zivanora
- Treasures
- Circa 64
- Itoro okon
Importation
You can also import your Jewelry from ecommerce website like Alibaba but be careful when doing so.
Equipment needed to start jewelry business in Nigeria
- Show glasses
- Metal security doors
- Gold testing kit
- Weighing scale
- Fan
- Bulb
How to start jewelry business in Nigeria
1) Knowledge
Jewelry business is not like other buy and sell business, you need to learn how to value and sell jewelry luckily it should not talk you more than 3 month to acquire the knowledge.
It is hard to know fake jewelry and real one unless you have been in the business for long so to avoid future problem make sure you learn it, do not even think of hiring experience employee go through the process.
2) Feasibility report
Thanks to internet jewelry business is not location base, you can sell it online but with that you need to do your research to see if the business is feasible.
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Go out and interview potential customer and competitor, know the cost and profit of jewelry business, you can use industry average to predict your profit and cost.
Your feasibility study should answer the following question
- Does it sound good?,
- Is that the kind of profit you are looking for?
- Can you do the hard work of selling on social media and delivering through Logistics Company?
- Can you handle return?
If you answer yes to all this questions, then you are good to go.
3) Who are your customers?
This should be part of your feasibility study but I decide to treat it separately
Who are your target customers? Is it high net worth individual, middle income or low income earner, your answer will let you know the type of niche to choose.
If you are selling to high net worth individual sure you will need to sell diamond and gold, if it is middle income gold and silver will do but if it low income you should go for fashion or costume jewelry.
4) Business plan
I’m sure you are an ambitious type, you will want to move your business to the greater height, you even have the plans on your head but should I tell you the truth you will forget it.
The reason you start the business will be gone once the problem of business comes in you will, that is why you need to write the plan down in a paper, do not forget to also pen your strategy and if you will need loan in the future put more effort in to the plan.
5) Register your Business
If you want to avoid confrontation with the authority you need to register your business.
Also Jewelry business is a big money business by registering it your customer and supplier will trust you especially if you are using social media to sell your product.
6) Rent a shop
The next thing is to set up a shop. Let your shop be in a clean and decorated place, no one will patronize you if you rent a smelling shop remember those who buy jewelry are mostly affluent people.
Design your shop to the taste of your customer and don’t forget to connect AC or fan.
If you can’t afford these there is another way about it; you can set up social medial as your shop and promote your business aggressively buy constantly posting pictures of Jewelry.
It is even better than shop the only problem is return, online selling is reeks with return from customer who just want to test jewelry but all the same you will still make your money.
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7) Stocking
The next step is to buy jewelry, if it is your first time make sure to go with a professional preferably the person that taught you jewelry business because you can easily be duped by the wholesaler but if it is directly from manufacturers you have nothing to fear since you can always return it.
Also if you are importing your Jewry from Alibaba take your time to evaluate the seller, to know more about mini importation click here.
When stocking do not stock your jewelry together give them space at least half meter to each other and place it on something to add to it beauty.
Tips for selling and stocking
The one you place at the view of customer will sell quickly than the one out of their view, though this depend on the height of the person but psychological if you place a product in the middle of a shelf or table it has high chance of been picked.
8) Marketing
The best way to market your jewelry business is by using social media, though physical advertisement is good but it will limit you to your location, it is rare for people living in kogi state to buy from you if you are living in Lagos but social media can made this possible.
Set up social media and post picture regularly to increase the process you can use social media ad, believe me you will sell like crazy.
Below are the physical advertisements medium you can use especially when you are just starting out
Flyers
Flyers are good in flying your business to people.
Print quality and sharable flayers and distribute them to your friends and family with a plead, threat and anything you can use that will make them share it.
Sign post
This does not do much other than directing people to you. Sign post is like a direction that can also serve as ad if it is well placed.
Business card
Business card can also come in handy. Occasionally you might meet high net worth individual that need Jewelry your business card will do the talking.
Cost of starting jewelry Business in Nigeria
This depends on the niche and scale of the business but all the same this cost analysis should estimate the average amount you need to start a Jewelry business in Nigeria
Jewelry (All deferent type of Jewry) price — #600,000
Show glasses —- # 50,000
Wall Shelf —– #100,000
Testing kit — #3,000
Weighing scale —– #10,000
Security door — #100,000
Total —-#863,000
Note
This is a rough estimate; also cost of starting costume Jewry business will surely be less down that. Before you start jewelry business you should have about #1,000,000
But you can pend this and go set up social media till you have enough money to set up physical shop. If you follow this your starting cost will be around #700,000 and can be lower than that if you go for mini importation.
Challenges of Jewelry business in Nigeria
Theft
No1 problem of jewelry business is theft. Once area boys know that you are selling Jewelry they will do everything possible to steal it, this is why you need to use metal security door and locate your shop to good environment.
Trust
If you are selling on social media it will take time before people can trust you. You need to flaunts your address and CAC registration number every time. You can also ask customer to write testimonial and post it.
Fake jewelry
It is possible to buy fake gold, diamond and silver in jewelry business, it usually happen to first timer that is why you need to take your time to learn it.
Conclusion
Jewelry business is an evergreen business, people will always use Jewelry so you don’t need to worry about it future profitability.
Get up and act on what you have learn in this article, it is time to move from wantrepreneur to startuppreneur.
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Let us know in the comment below, it will help us to do more.
Thanks for reading