The Power of Personalisation: Bespoke Jewellery with a Laser Engraving Machine

Personalised gifts are a big business. More and more consumers are demanding gifts that are unique and personal to their recipients. One particular sector which has seen a huge rise in demand for personalisation is jewellery. Whether it is initials engraved onto a ring or a quote engraved onto a pendant, the demand is there for vendors and manufacturers to capitalise on.

Let's crunch some numbers.

In 2015, a YouGov survey commissioned by PhotoBox Group estimated that UK shoppers were on course to spend £1bn per annum on personalised gifts. The survey suggested that more than 27 million UK consumers had purchased a personalised gift of some description in the past 12 months. Research by Deloitte into the customisation and personalisation sector, also carried out in 2015, found that more than 50% of consumers were interested in buying personalised products or services, with one in five consumers who expressed an interest in purchasing personalised products saying they would be prepared to pay a 20% price premium.

So, we know that there is a vast demand for personalised gifts, and we know consumers are willing to pay more for them. But, where do laser engravers fit in? 

Personalising with a Laser Engraving Machine

The art of making jewellery is a craft that is as old as time. Although the manufacturing techniques and styles have changed and evolved throughout the different eras, the appeal of jewellery has remained the same. The visual quality is borne of the rare and precious materials used in making each jewellery piece, as well as from the skill and expertise of the craftsmen behind them.

The traditional method of adding hallmarks and engravings to a piece of jewellery involved ‘striking’ them with punches. This made a permanent indentation on the jewellery, but the tremendous force needed to strike this indentation can also cause deformation or damage to the piece of jewellery being marked. 

Laser engraving jewellery has the chief advantage of non-contact, with no tools physically being applied to the jewellery. Thus, the risk of damage to the products being marked is mitigated. In addition to this, laser technology is much faster compared to traditional etching methods done by hand. Engraving a line of text using a jewellery laser engraving machine will take only a few seconds to complete the task. Most jewellery makers take at least a few hours to engrave by hand, with some of them even needing a few days to finish a single engraving. With a jewellery laser engraver such as the N-Lase Desktop, jewellery makers can have a faster turnaround time for their personalised products.

So, What's the Incentive?

Apart from customer satisfaction, there is a monetary value and incentive from a business perspective. Typically a personalisation will add value to the original product - our customers have suggested an increase in value of 25% on average, though this can be case-specific. At Needham Laser Technologies we can offer a finance package spread over 5 years for the purchase of our systems.

As a business if you buy an N-Lase Desktop through finance, your monthly repayments will be on average £300 per calendar month, so you'll be able to recoup the monthly costs by doing a handful of items per month.

Example:
You sell a ring worth £200 to a customer who then wants it engraving for their partner, you are able to offer a personalisation service whilst they grab a coffee, the cost of the personalisation is £50 (25% of the cost of the product). The customer agrees and purchases the ring with the added personalisation, after doing this for six customers in the month the finance repayments for the laser are covered and any more carried out is profit. There are no other costs related to owning a laser and the power output needed to power the laser is powered through the mains electrics and uses on average the equivalent power of a standard fridge freezer.