A woman walks into your gallery, spies a lovely piece of handcrafted jewelry and plunks down her credit card without even so much as asking the price.

Sound a little too easy? In this economy, it probably is. The reality is that when times are tough, jewelry retailers must market like never before—rethinking old strategies and using new tools. We talked to savvy gallery owners to find out what’s moving jewelry off the shelves and into the hands of happy customers.

Village Artisans Gallery

P.J. Heyman, owner
Boiling Springs, Pa.

Have you reduced your inventory levels? What needs to happen before you will feel comfortable increasing your inventory levels?

I don’t carry high inventory levels because of our very limited storage space. I’m more comfortable ordering inventory for just-in-time delivery, but am increasing orders specifically for the holiday season.

Spectrum Art & Jewelry

Star Sosa, owner
Wilmington, N.C.

Have you reduced your inventory levels? What needs to happen before you will feel comfortable increasing your inventory levels?

We started reducing our inventory levels in October 2008. It was like someone slammed the door shut on traffic; the gallery was empty. My inventory levels were reduced naturally, because I didn’t order any last-minute merchandise in the fourth quarter. I felt that if I could hold on until June, we could survive the crisis. That proved to be true.

Poppy

Barbara McCormick, owner
Columbia, Mo.

Have you reduced your inventory levels? What needs to happen before you will feel comfortable increasing your inventory levels?

Our inventory levels are steady. We can’t achieve normal sales without normal inventory levels, so I buy with the same enthusiasm I usually do. It helps that we pay for inventory without borrowing money—if we were paying interest to carry the inventory, we’d have to consider re-thinking our inventory policy.