Alexey Bugakov, co-founder of BUGAKOV jewelry, talks about how to sell premium products on the marketplace, what advertising works, and what mistakes should be avoided.
Creating jewelry is our calling
The BUGAKOV company was founded in 2015 by the Bugakov brothers. Before that, my brother and I were looking for our calling in different fields of activity, working in well-known large companies in Russia, including one of the jewelry chains. And thanks to the innovative spirit and experience in making jewelry, we decided to create a family company in the jewelry segment.
In 2018, our brand BUGAKOV jewelry was born. And already in 2019, the brand was officially registered as a trademark in Russia. At the end of the same year, we began working on our debut collection “Plexus of fate”, and in the future we plan to release two collections per year.
We have a very diverse assortment, and not only our own design. Jewelry made of gold, platinum and silver is available for production.
Currently, our team has more than 5 people. There are designers, 3D modelers, jewelers and other employees. If the duties allow to do the work remotely, for example, jewelry design, then these employees work online without being tied to a place. We do not use a separate person to promote products in the store yet. There is someone who creates the basis for product cards, and another employee is engaged in placing these cards on the site. Or all this is done by one person: in general, depending on the situation.
We made enough mistakes when developing the business. For example, we were engaged in different areas of business at the same time, which led to defocusing and inefficiency of business processes. You always need to focus on one action or area of activity. It was also a mistake to test any supplier for a long time, for example, fittings for leather cords. Slowly making any decision is also a mistake.
How to sell premium products at the Masters Fair?
We made the first sale in our store at the Masters Fair after adding more than 100 products, using the full set of tools that the site itself offers. This is important and affects the search — and sales accordingly. As far as I remember, we sold a bracelet made of leather and 925 silver with a panther or tiger head.
We also currently use social networks and a foreign platform as sales channels. Our new website will be launched soon. The leading channels are currently a social network banned in Russia and the Masters Fair.
The average number of orders on the Masters Fair is 7 items per month with an average check of 220 thousand rubles.
Our advertising budget on the Masters Fair is about 10 thousand rubles, and the total budget is more than 100 thousand rubles.
The main secret of sales on the Masters Fair is the use of tools offered by the platform for promoting products. These are, first of all, keywords for search engines in product cards, detailed product descriptions, the use of advertising for all positions, creating the right names for your products. You can also use blogs on the platform, the increase in customers from them is difficult to estimate, but it is there. We advise a new store on the platform, in addition to using all the tools for sales, to also make a high-quality visual design. But, first of all, you need to fill the store with goods for at least 50-65 positions, otherwise sales may not start. For example, at the very beginning, we mistakenly thought that with 20 posted products and no reviews, sales should go on their own, but this did not happen.
Of the free promotion tools, keywords work best. Therefore, select them qualitatively through Yandex Wordstat. Of the paid promotion tools, contextual advertising works best.
Who are our customers and what is important to them?
Our customers are most often people aged 25-47 who value freedom of personal expression. They are successful, unique and choose jewelry both for every day and for a certain event, ceremony or special occasion.
When buying, it is important for our customer, first of all, that he is clearly understood and heard all the wishes, could be guided on all issues as quickly as possible – this is a personal attitude. Also, many buyers need to know that they can receive confirmation of the quality of the stones in the form of a certificate. And, of course, in the end, the most important thing is the quality of the products, and only then the packaging, delivery and other details.
We had an interesting case on the site: one client first bought a silver ring for himself, and he liked the quality of our work so much that he then ordered gold products for himself, his wife and relatives. This shows how important it is to do your job well and, moreover, always.
