Headlines

New Etsy Initiative Helping Jewelers Scale Up Their Businesses

Published

8 years ago

March 29, 2016

INSTORE Staff

One jewelry maker has slashed her production time thanks to a local metal spinner.

Melissa Frost is scaling up her jewelry-making enterprise on Etsy thanks to the e-commerce website’s new manufacturing initiative, which aims to connect artisans with small shops that can help independent craftspeople grow their businesses, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette writes.

The article explains how Frost, through Etsy’s new initiative, met Brad Harrison, the director of business development at a local metal spinning company that has a high-powered laser cutting machine on its production line. The two partnered up, and the result was a drastic reduction in the amount of time it takes to cut sheets of metal. Since a large part of her business comes in the form of custom design requests, she told the news outlet she “needed tools to speed up the process. Now I’m embracing the hybrid of traditional metalsmithing that is handmade and technology like laser cutting.”

Etsy’s manufacturing initiative, the article says, was unveiled in New York and Boston before Pittsburgh was selected as the third city.

When There’s No Succession Plan, Call Wilkerson

Bob Wesley, owner of Robert C. Wesley Jewelers in Scottsdale, Ariz., was a third-generation jeweler. When it was time to enjoy life on the other side of the counter, he weighed his options. His lease was nearing renewal time and with no succession plan, he decided it was time to call Wilkerson. There was plenty of inventory to sell and at first, says Wesley, he thought he might try to manage a sale himself. But he’s glad he didn’t. “There’s no way I could have done this as well as Wilkerson,” he says. Wilkerson took responsibility for the entire event, with every detail — from advertising to accounting — done, dusted and managed by the Wilkerson team. “It’s the complete package,” he says of the Wilkerson method of helping jewelers to easily go on to the next phase of their lives. “There’s no way any retailer can duplicate what they’ve done.”