The star of CNBC’s The Profit explains to Tina Tang, founder of Iron Strong Jewelry, how to market and charge more for her ‘Made in the U.S.A.’ products.
Small-business retailers of America, take note: If you want to sell your wares at high price points, you need to know your customers, and stamp your items with a loud and proud “Made in the U.S.A.” sign.
That’s according to Marcus Lemonis, famed small-business fixer and star of CNBC’s hit series The Profit, who met with entrepreneur Tina Tang in the most recent episode of Inc.’s web series Ask Marcus Lemonis. Each week, a featured business owner gets the unique opportunity to ask Lemonis one question about his or her most pressing business challenge.
Tang is the founder of Iron Strong Jewelry, a New York City-based business. She designs fitness-themed jewelry (think: dumbbell-shaped cufflinks and spinning cycle necklaces), and sources the items from a manufacturer in Manhattan’s jewelry district. At present, her pieces retail for just under $100–a figure that Lemonis takes issue with.
“I think you can get to $50 for novelty jewelry,” he says. Still, he concedes that it would be difficult for Tang to make any sort of profit there, since she manufactures in the U.S., as opposed to overseas.
“The hardest problem I’ve had is about finding the right audience,” Tang adds.
Lemonis suggests that she adjust her logo–an image of weights–since her primary audience comes from a variety of sectors (runners, yogis, and athletes). “Maybe what we should do is list out all the audiences that we’re thinking about talking to [and] build the line and the pricing towards them,” he says.
In addition to lowering the prices, the gloss of adding a “Made in the U.S.A.” tagline to Tang’s jewelry could help drive more revenues, as Lemonis sees it. For more on why this tag ups market reach, watch the episode above in its entirety.
Subscribe to Inc.’s channel, click here: http://www.youtube.com/user/incmagazine?sub_confirmation=1
Click here for the full video: http://www.inc.com/ask-marcus-lemonis/tina-tang-iron-strong-jewelry.html
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Inc
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Inc
G+: https://plus.google.com/+incmagazine/posts
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/inc.-magazine
