A tray of rings, each different
Look in your window. A Victorian garnet ring. An Edwardian diamond three-stone. A modern sapphire halo made at your own bench. A second-hand gents' watch. Each is a single item with its own cost, its own story and its own ticket.
Your stock system, if it came with your till, may assume you sell twenty of the same pendant. So one-off pieces end up as 'Ring - misc' at a price keyed in at the till, or as an item code that is reused when the next similar piece comes in. The record of what exactly was sold, what it cost and where it came from is thin.
At stocktake, the count says you have 43 rings. The trays say 41. Which two?
Why generic stock systems fail jewellers
Retail stock software counts quantities of products. A jeweller's stock is closer to a register of individual objects, each with properties that matter: metal, weight, stones, hallmark, age, provenance, cost and sometimes whether it was bought from a member of the public.
Tags are often handwritten price tickets with a code that means something only to the owner. When the ticket falls off, or the piece is moved from the window to the cabinet, the connection between tag and record can be lost.
Stones and metals also change value, so a piece's cost and its current replacement cost can be quite different. Without a proper record per item, you cannot see the real value of your stock.
What weak stock records cost
| Symptom | Consequence |
|---|---|
| Pieces sold under generic codes | Profit per sale unknown |
| Handwritten tags | Pieces separated from their records |
| Counts that do not reconcile | Doubt about losses or mistakes |
| No provenance record | Questions you cannot answer when a customer asks |
| Old stock invisible | Pieces that sit for years without a decision |
Stock is most of a jeweller's capital. A clear view of it is more than tidiness; it is how you decide what to buy, what to remake and what to reprice.
Second-hand and antique pieces sharpen all of this. Each one has a purchase history, perhaps bought over the counter, at auction or from a trade dealer, and a cost that has nothing to do with any catalogue price. If that history is not recorded against the piece itself, you cannot answer a customer who asks about its age or origin, and you cannot see whether antique stock is earning its place in the window compared with new pieces.
How we set up one record per piece
- Each piece gets its own record with a unique number, photos, description, metal, weight, stones, hallmark details, cost, retail price and supplier or source.
- A small printed tag with a barcode or QR code replaces the handwritten ticket. Scanning it at the till or during a count brings up the exact piece.
- When a piece is sold, the till records it by its number, so the sale carries the cost and details. If your till cannot do this, we build a link between the two.
- Counts are done by scanning trays. The system lists anything expected but not scanned, by description and photo, which is far easier to follow up than a quantity mismatch.
- Pieces move between locations (window, cabinet, safe, workshop, on approval with a customer) and each move is logged.
- Reports show stock by age, category and margin, including pieces that have not sold for a long time.
Plenty of jewellery point of sale systems already handle unique items well. If yours does and it is simply not set up that way, we tell you and help set it up, rather than building something new.
Stock counts that make sense
At the end of the day, the trays are scanned into the safe. The list shows every piece is there, or names the one that is not. Sales show exactly which item went and what it made.
- Every piece identifiable by tag, photo and record
- Sales linked to the specific item and its cost
- Counts that point to missing items by name
- Clear reports on ageing and slow stock
Is your stock recorded like this?
- Unique pieces are sold under generic till codes.
- Price tags are handwritten.
- Stock counts give numbers but not names.
- You cannot quickly say what a particular piece cost.
- Old stock sits without anyone reviewing it.