A US jewelry e-commerce brand built its core business on stainless chains and wanted to move upmarket into sterling silver without losing the logistics discipline that made it profitable. The transition is a common ambition and a common failure: silver is not stainless with a better story, it is a different cost structure with metal risk.
The challenge
The brand’s repeat rate depended on 15-dollar price points; silver pieces would land at 45-70 retail. Metal volatility made fixed six-month pricing impossible, and their first silver attempt failed on tarnish complaints because the factory quoted flash rhodium to hit a target price.
What was done
The programme was rebuilt in three moves. First, quotes were split into metal and conversion, with metal floated at the fixing and capped at eight percent. Second, the plating spec was set at rhodium over palladium barrier with a written wear test. Third, the assortment launched with twelve silver SKUs replacing thirty stainless, keeping depth on the winners.
Results
