Yesterday Nirukshi and I stopped by Gandhara to drop off more jewelry and to chat with the owner of the store. Gandhara is located near Colombo, and has been selling Emerge jewelry in one of its many small shops since April. They have a separate display for Emerge jewelry, with a poster detailing what we do as well as brochures about our organization.
I asked the two women who are in charge of the jewelry area how the products were doing – what sold well and what didn’t, and who were their typical customers? I learned that Gandhara has two types of clientele. The first are local Sri Lankans. Because things are generally less expensive in Sri Lanka, we price Emerge jewelry at about half of what it goes for in the States. The local shoppers tend to purchase bracelets because they are the lowest price item we sell. Within bracelets they really like ones with large, shiny glass beads because they feel they are getting their money’s worth. There is a big focus on the amount of money spent corresponding to the worth of the individual components of the jewelry, and less on what it looks like when it’s all put together. Because of this, they have an easier time purchasing a piece with large beads (more material = more expensive) than smaller ones.
The other shopper that frequents Gandhara is foreigners – people coming into the store to purchase gifts for themselves or others. They love Emerge jewelry because it is made in Sri Lanka (and they want to bring something back home that will remind them of their trip), and because of the girls who make it. These customers aren’t specific as to what type of jewelry they prefer, because all of it is inexpensive according to their standards.
From my trip to Gandhara, I got a couple ideas of ways that we could improve our sales in the store. I’ll let you all know how it goes!
-Ellen