Impulse purchases

A couple of weeks ago we decided it was time to change the sofas in our living room. They were turn and faded and basically looked pretty bad. So I went to an area with many furniture stores of all kinds and started browsing around. End of story is- I did not buy any sofas that day but I did end up buying a gorgeous dinning table!

I find that many times impulse purchases are the best ones I make. Maybe it's because I am not usually a very impulsive buyer. Usually I like to think and look around before I pick something. So when I find something that I love so much that I don't need to look any further, It's got to be great. Or maybe it's just the pleasure of discovering something you were not expecting.

To be honest we were thinking of buying a dinning table sometime in the near future. And when I found this amazing and perfect table, we just decided to do this now rather than later. Nevertheless, I still consider this a rather impulsive purchase as I was not looking to buy a table now but just could not resist it.

I received my dinning table a few days ago and I just love it. So happy I got impulsive and got it. And the sofas? I did find a set I liked eventually but as they were found in a more conventional boring way, they don't get a story of their own, but they do get a picture so that's something too, right?

What makes a best seller?

I often wonder what makes one item in a store sell better that another. What is the secret that makes a product into a best seller? If I knew the answer to that I would be rich and spending my time traveling around the world. But I do have a few ideas that are of course only based on my own personal experience.

Exposure - This is the obvious reason. Last year I had my filigree hoops featured in etsy's holiday gift guides and they received tons of daily views. As a result I sold many pairs of these. But since these earrings were one of my best sellers even before this extra attention I know this is not the only reason.

Pictures - when selling online, pictures are the basic thing that sells your item. I have several items that were not selling well and after improving their pictures, they suddenly became some of my most popular items in the store. It's amazing what a good picture can do.

Timing - If your item fits a specific need at the specific time it is needed, it will sell well. Of course you don't always know what that need is. A few years ago I made a ring with some birds parading on it. I sold only a few and stopped making them. Last year I re-made it and listed it in my store, It sold so much better. It turns out birds are "in" right now and the ring became very popular. Same design, different time and it made a huge difference.

I think you need a little bit of each of these factors to make a best seller. If you have the right product at the right time with a great set of pictures and a bit of exposure to display it to the world, success will come for sure. What do you think? any other ideas on what make an item succesful?

Here are some of my best selling items in the past and present:

                

New section in my blog - In a designer's eyes

I'm opening a new section in my blog that will be called - In a designer's eyes. In this section I will be sharing with you things that I love that were created by other designers in different fields.

I have been making jewelry ever since I can remember myself, but if someone told me I could no longer design jewelry, I would probably still choose a career in design. I just love good design in any field - interior design, fashion, houswares, industrial design etc.

Not that I think that being a designer makes me an expert on design but since I am a designer and this is my blog, everything I see is looked through my designer eyes and my design taste. Hope you'll like it as well.

I will start with something from my own field of expertise - jewelry. Though I make my own jewelry I still love and appreciate other jewelry artists that create unique jewelry works.  

I picked 2 jewelry designers that make some unique combinations of materials.

Donauluft combines metalwork with beading. I like how the connection between these 2 materials, metal and beads, looks together. Beading with seed beads is a lot of work (I should know, I have done this myself) and not always appreciated enough. I think the combination with the sterling silver upgrades the jewelry don't you?

My second pick is by 3squares who combines colorful fabrics in her metalwork. There are many ways to add color to sterling silver jewelry, some more traditional like adding gemstones and some newer and more innovative. I find the use of fabric to be an original and great way to add color and texture and to create something unique. Take a look: