The Best Web Platforms for Managing Jewelry Shops Online  

Your jewelry shop is finally making an impression on social media. Your website is also getting many visitors, and locals are flocking to your physical store to check your products.

There’s no denying that your marketing strategies are effective! 

Now, it’s time to get into the selling side of your business. Good thing, website platforms make this task easier.

What should you look for in a website platform?

An excellent website platform provides the best customer experience.

Below are specific items you can consider when assessing whether the website platform for your online jewelry shop is providing a quality customer experience:

•       Speed/performance

Does the site load fast with a single click? Is it taking forever to load a photo?

•       Flexibility

Is your site flexible to your needs? Can you modify it according to your preferences?

•       Security

Does your website platform support Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) or Transport Layer Security (TLS), which protects your customers from fraud? Does your web hosting provider conduct appropriate security measures to ensure that data are protected?

•       E-commerce Features

Does your site’s e-commerce features provide a straightforward approach to the selling process?  Are there transaction fees charged to customers?

•       SEO-Compliant

Is your website format compliant in terms of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) standards? Did your online jewelry store pass the SEO audit checks?

Top 3 Popular Platforms for your Jewelry Store

 As jewelry store owners, the maintenance of your website is probably more important than building it.  Hence, it would help if you also looked into the trust and confidence ratings of the platforms you use. 

Here are the top three web platforms that are trusted by other business owners worldwide:

1. Shopify

While most e-commerce platforms are free, Shopify isn’t. You have to pay a subscription to reap its benefits.

Despite being a little expensive, more than 1.7 million merchants invest in this hosted software platform and we can understand why.

 Shopify is so direct to the point. Imagine creating a jewelry store by just dragging and dropping icons or objects with zero coding knowledge at all! 

What’s more, you don’t need a hosting package when using this platform since it operates its cloud-based technology. However, this could also mean added expense, especially when you want to incorporate third-party add-ons on your site.

PROS: Easy to use, no need for coding and programming, and you can promote and sell jewelry on other sales channels such as Facebook, Amazon, and eBay.

CONS: Expensive and imposes transaction fees on customers unless they activate Shopify Payments 

2. Magento

If you like tailoring your online jewelry store according to your standards, Magento is for you.

Magento’s flexibility, however, may not come easy for beginners. For starters, this platform is heavy on programming—something that professional web developers may find interesting.

But, don’t let the intimidating setup get into you. Magento also offers more advanced security features compared with other e-commerce sites. That’s why medium to large entities trust this platform.

Further, it comes in free and paid versions. So, you could test the water first before subscribing to the total package.

PROS: Flexible, robust, and has the most advanced security features (Thanks to Magento Patches and security extensions)

CONS: Challenging to learn if you don’t have a background in coding and programming. 

3. WooCommerce

WooCommerce is probably the most popular e-commerce platform in the market, with over 3.8 million users worldwide.

WooCommerce is technically a WordPress plugin. Hence, if you’re already acquainted with WordPress, you will find this platform easy to use.

 Because more people are familiar with the WordPress environment, many business owners, from startups to the more established ones, also prefer to use WooCommerce over other e-commerce sites.

Likewise, maintenance of your website is relatively more manageable with WooCommerce around since everything goes under your WordPress account.

If you want to change the overall look of your online jewelry shop, there is always a WooCommerce-friendly theme waiting for you. However, you may need a little knowledge in coding or programming if you want to customize some features of your website.

PROS: Popular, easy to use, and perfect for startup shops and those who are comfortable working in a WordPress environment.

CONS: Domain name and hosting services is not included, but you have to purchase them anyway. 

What about Proprietary Websites?

Proprietary sites are websites that are created using private or closed-source technology.

In other words, a web developer creates your online jewelry store. Depending on your arrangement, the web developer can also maintain your site.

Proprietary sites may sound tempting at first. Envision having a website that is solely designed especially (and only) for you without paying costly fees

But what if the web guy leaves you? What if things get sour between your jewelry business and the developer?

You can’t just leave your entire online jewelry store behind!

 This is why we highly discourage using proprietary platforms.

When you choose a proprietary platform, you are essentially marrying a web developer. If you fall out of love, getting a divorce is not easy or cheap! It certainly can break your heart, and we want to spare you from all the stress it might bring.

So, what do we recommend for your jewelry store?

Here at Jewelry Store Marketers, we swear by the WooCommerce platform. 

We liked that WooCommerce is already connected with your WordPress account. So, you could enjoy WordPress features at the same time.

Maintenance of your online jewelry store is not also stressful, and you could do it on your own without programming know-how.

Most importantly, Woo-Commerce has the largest market share when it comes to e-commerce platforms. So, getting technical support or assistance later is not a hassle.

Final Thoughts

Advertising your jewelry products is one thing, but selling the actual items is at a whole different level.

If you have questions about websites, give us a call.  We can explain all the options and help you decide which will work best for your jewelry store.