The JA Report: News, Tips & Trends from Jewelers of America

Understand Your Numbers

Jewelers of America is conducting its annual Cost of Doing Business survey, which helps retail jewelers gain valuable insight by looking back at their previous year's numbers for key performance measures.

The survey reveals key data points that help you run your business better:

• For instance, the 2009 survey indicated that the most profitable jewelers turn their inventory 1.2 times per year, versus low profit jewelers who only turn inventory once. If your numbers are closer to low profits, brainstorm with your team on ways to improve your inventory turn – our survey shows even a slight improvement could improve your bottom line.

Tips for improving inventory turn in your store:

Pop-Up Jewelry Stores: The Wave of the Future?

By Helena Krodel, Director of Media and Special Events

From Boston to California, New York to San Francisco, pop-up stores are a new phenomenon taking retail by storm. A pop-up shop, that is — a temporary retail space or experience which involves “popping-up” one day, and disappearing the next – has become the second most clever way (after social media of course) to create a unique environment that engages customers and generates a feeling of relevance and interactivity. As far as publicity goes, this concept is high on the list of buzz-worthy activities. 

“Strike a Pose” With Fashion-Forward Marketing

At the recent JCK Show in Las Vegas, Jewelers of America’s in-house fashion and jewelry trends expert Helena Krodel picked up great ideas from “Selling Through Fashion,” an enlightening and entertaining panel discussion. Krodel was thrilled to learn a few tricks and hear creative advice aimed at retailers who are looking to market and merchandise year-round. Retailers got tips on how to position themselves as fashion experts in the minds of consumers through trend-driven in-store merchandising, special events, online media and social marketing.

The panel was comprised of four industry experts: Elizabeth Anne Bonanno, EAB Consulting; Randi Molofsky, Portero.com and author of A Girl’s Guide to Buying Diamonds; Frank Proctor, Luxury Brand Group; and Michael Schechter, Honora. The discussion was led by moderator Victoria Gomelsky, who is a frequent contributor to the New York Times and other publications.

Krodel shares some of the best advice from the panelists:

Plan For the Las Vegas Jewelry Shows

The Las Vegas jewelry trade shows are right around the corner. Are you prepared to make the most of your product purchasing and networking time this year? With more than 2,500 exhibitors at the JCK Show and over 200 exhibitors at Couture, planning your visit to Las Vegas is more than essential.

Amanda Gizzi, Jewelers of America Director of Consumer Communications, offers smart planning tips so you can maximize every dollar and minute of your Las Vegas trip:

Summer Event Idea: Lights, Camera, Jewelry!

It’s been two years, but the fashion-forward gals from the television series “Sex and the City” are back with the sequel to their hit 2009 film. Sex and the City 2, opening nationwide on May 28, "Carries" on the tradition of friendship, fun and yes -- fashion. Just one look at the movie’s trailer (even the logos sparkle!) makes it clear that Carrie Bradshaw and her pals are still accessorizing big-time, and that includes jewelry. (Even Mr. Big gets in on the action, with Carrie gifting her husband of two years a new watch.)

Whether it’s on the red carpet or the big screen, women will want to emulate the looks they see this summer. Take advantage of the buzz by promoting Hollywood-inspired jewelry in your store.

Some movie pitches (and key release dates) to give you ideas:

Create a Cohesive Jewelry Collection

"Is my collection cohesive?"

This is the one-billion-dollar question that jewelry designers should be asking themselves. By definition cohesiveness means well-integrated or unified. 

To make sure your collections thrive each season, Helena Krodel, Jewelers of America Director of Media and Special Events (and Jewelry Information Center spokeswoman), says you need to take a close look at your designs and ask the following questions:

Stock Hot Summer Jewelry Trends

As the weather warms up and the clothing gets paired down, there is more body real estate on which to park jewelry! Helena Krodel, Jewelers of America's Director of Media and Special Events, offers a sneak peek at the hottest jewelry styles and colors for the sizzling summer season.

Be smart with your jewelry merchandising this summer and stock your jewelry store with these jewelry trends:

Promote the Holidays Early

While the conventional wisdom is that holiday shoppers don’t start looking until the very end (Black Friday or later), a new study begs to differ. According to “Gift Reporting 2010: The Ultimate Guide to the Consumer Gift-Giving Market,” a new report from Unity Marketing, two-thirds of all shoppers who give Christmas gifts started their shopping for the 2009 season before Thanksgiving. The study also found 22% of shoppers look for Christmas gifts year-round and that those who shop early spent twice as much as consumers who started on Black Friday or later.

Pam Danziger, president of Unity Marketing, offers the following takeaways from the report:

Be Part of the “Perfect Engagement” Story

To most Americans, buying an engagement ring is a daunting experience. That’s why retailers that get it right are not only part of the most exciting time in couple’s lives, they develop lifelong customers in return.  Over 630 consumers have entered their “Ultimate Proposal Story” in Jewelry Information Center’s Ultimate Proposal Contest. JA Director of Consumer Communications (and JIC spokeswoman) Amanda Gizzi has found inspiring marketing ideas for jewelry retailers from the story entries. She shares her favorites here.

Use these ideas to connect with your engagement customers and help them create the perfect engagement story:

Price Merchandise Strategically

When it comes to pricing your merchandise, there are a number of factors to consider before reaching that final number. That’s why the price may seem right to you, but without careful consideration, you could end up being over -- or under.

David Peters, Jewelers of America’s resident education and management expert, offers the following advice to help you properly price jewelry product:

Use Simple Steps To Improve Inventory Management

Scout Your Store

While it has become popular to secret shop competitors, are you doing enough to look at your own store through customer’s eyes? In “Scouting Your Store!”, Brad Huisken, of IAS Training, notes the importance of seeing your store the way that other’s do. Unfortunately, he says businesses don’t use this technique often enough.

He shares the following tips to help you evaluate your business and thrive:

Integrate Bricks and Clicks for Customer Satisfaction

First, the good news: Many retailers took advantage of the huge jump in online spending this past holiday season. Comscore Inc. reported a whopping 20% increase in jewelry and watch sales over the previous year -- and not just for E-tailers. Many traditional retailers added a shopping cart to their websites this year. The bad news? Too many left customers frustrated when they failed to successfully integrate their online and traditional merchandising strategies.

This became apparent in a study by Forrester Research. It found that while most customers are satisfied with their online shopping experience, that attitude did not carry over when they "pre-shopped" online and then visited a store to make the purchase. Dissatisfaction centers around a disconnect between the two modes of selling. Larry Chasin, president & CEO of Ideal Diamond Solutions, an online jewelry merchandising platform provider, says the remedy is to tightly coordinate your online and in-store sales and merchandising.

He offers these tips to integrate your online sales with your in-store sales experience:

Make Year-Round Sales With Birthstones

With so much focus on the holidays, it’s easy to lose sight of year-round sales opportunities that can help sustain and grow your business. Hopefully, you’ve created a customer database that includes milestone dates, such as birthdays and anniversaries. One way to use this data is to set up promotions around birthstones. These can be used to both target existing and attract potential customers.

Promote birthstone sales with these great event and marketing ideas:

Forget the Holidays, Spring (Fashion) Forward!

‘Tis the season to be jolly!  Why?  Because holiday preparations are over and spring will soon be on the horizon. Helena Krodel, of Jewelery Information Center, helps you prepare to showcase jewelry product in tune with current fashion trends with her seasonal trends forecasting.

Krodel offers this sneak peak at the trends for spring 2010:

Compete With Mystery Shopping

Scoping out the competition is one of the best ways for companies to evaluate and improve their performance. Over at the Expert Business Source blog, Brad Huisken of IAS Training argues that mystery shopping is an underused tool that can help increase sales. 

Huisken says you'll get the most out of mystery shopping when you observe the following areas:

Price Proactively

One of the keys to profitability is being able to buy and price merchandise effectively. David Peters, Jewelers of America’s resident education and management expert, notes that passive pricing -- with little or no strategy -- is the norm for many independent retailers. But by treating all your merchandise with the same exact formula (such as, buy it, keystone it, put it in the case), you could miss out on opportunities for increased profits. Instead, he says jewelers should use proactive pricing to maximize the profit contribution of your inventory.

He shares the following proactive pricing strategies:

Use a Consistent Pricing Strategy

While there are plenty of practical reasons people buy things, the emotional component is the every constant “x” factor. That’s why your pricing strategy is critical to your success, as it  sends subtle messages and psychology to reach potential customers.

Consider the time-tested price strategies, reviewed by Ivana Taylor at Small Business Trends, as you are creating your price points:

Safeguard Your Merchandise from Storms

Before hurricane-force winds and rain whip your business, have a plan in place to safeguard your merchandise and minimize loss. Jewelers Mutual Insurance Company offers a Hurricane Preparedness Guide  on its website.  The Guide is an invaluable resource to business owners, and we’ve included a small expert so you can preview its important tips.

If you’re hit by a hurricane or storm, you’re likely to sustain damage but, by following Jewelers Mutual’s tips to secure your merchandise, you can minimize your loss:

Rethink Retail Practices

The current recession has many retailers, especially big chains and brands, shifting their strategy to match changes in the consumer mindset. “The impact will mean both sweeping changes in the merchandise on their shelves and subtler alterations, like how many pantyhose to keep in stock,” writes Stephanie Rosenbloom in the New York Times.

With economists and analysts predicting that it will take up to a decade to return to 2007 levels of consumer spending, Rosenbloom notes that now is a good time for retailers to re-imagine the future.

To remain competitive, jewelry companies should note what larger retail firms are doing to thrive:

Capitalize On Colored Gemstones Sales

In these dreary times, colored gemstones can provide a nice profit booster for you -- thanks to the margins, and a mood booster for your customers -- thanks to their beauty. But are you making the most of your colored gemstone jewelry? David Peters, Jewelers of America’s resident education and management expert notes that the colored stone customer is typically a female who shops frequently and is likely to make up to two purchases in a year. With consumers holding back recently, it’s time to take advantage of pent-up demand.
 
Peters says that when you’re dealing with a “colored stone” customer, it’s important to keep the following in mind:

Face Frugality and Thrive

Consumers in America have cut back their spending, but that doesn’t have to mean jewelry is an expendable purchase. You just need to adjust your business to fit the new mindset. In “The Frugal Consumer: When Shoppers Lose the Urge to Splurge,”  JCK Magazine’s Rob Bates talks to industry experts about how to deal with this shift.

Check out these tips from experts on how to refocus your business to reach frugal consumers:

Make Your Store #1

While keeping your financials in check is critical during the downturn, you should also consider how you can position your store for success once conditions improve. In his presentation “The Art of Jewelry Retail,” Jewelers of America’s resident education and management expert David Peters stresses the importance of positioning your business first, ahead of your competition.

To beat the competition, Peters advises jewelers to:

Is Your Store a “Feel Good” Experience?

As a jewelry retailer, you don’t sell products -- you sell emotions and memories that can last a lifetime. But does the environment in your store reflect that lofty purpose?

Over at the Brand Insight Blog, John Furgurson writes about “the ultimate, feel-good retail experience.” While the store he profiles --Powell’s Sweet Shoppe -- sells memories of the edible kind, the memories evoked by jewelry can be even sweeter.

If you’re looking to improve the customer experience at your store, it wouldn’t hurt to take a page from the Bend, OR, candy shop:

Live from JA New York: Create an Unforgettable Shopping Experience

In the age of “retailtainment,” your store needs to provide consumers with not only product, but a great shopping experience. One way to achieve this is by creating an interactive sensory experience that inspires the customer to buy again and again, and to share the experience with their friends. 

 

In his JA New York Winter show presentation, “Make Your Store Stand Out – Presentation Techniques and New Trends,” Andy Macaulay, director of business development, independent jewelers for Chippenhook, offered ideas on how your store can give customers an interactive shopping experience break through the visual clutter of today’s retail marketplace.

Macaulay said some key components to thrive with sensory shopping include: 

Display Based on Product Categories: Set up display windows and showcases by major merchandise classification to tell one complete and easy-to-understand story. For example, display a diamond story, a color stone story, etc.  Merchandising by major classification creates visual impact and simplifies the selection process for the customer.

Tips In Action: Retailers Who Thrive

Use Good Merchandising
Fine jewelry store Tanishq, Paramus, NJ, shows how

 Tanishq is a wonderland situated in an unlikely setting: a mall. The Paramus, NJ-based fine jewelry store feels more like the kind of freestanding retailer you’d find in a wealthy neighborhood.  But regardless of location, “they” get it. 

The founders and owners, originally from India, are masters of merchandising.  Because they are not native Americans, they had no preconceived notion of what a jewelry store should look like in the United States.  Therefore, they’ve stepped outside the box and created an experience that is unlike most U.S. jewelry stores . . . in a good way.   

 

Be A Holiday Haven For Last-Minute Shoppers

While it’s probably too late to plan an official event for last-minute shoppers, that doesn’t mean you can’t make your store a welcoming respite -- offering great ideas, a fun atmosphere and understanding -- to those hectic latecomers.

Tips on how to serve last-minute shoppers:

• Make It Personal: Ask questions of and listen closely to your customers. Find out what the customer needs, so you can provide it. Don’t forget to ask who else is on their list -- helping them get all of their last-minute gifts purchased in your store benefits you and them.

Make Sure Your Store is Visible

During challenging times, consumers put more thought into what they buy. Suze Bragg writes on “Retail Online”  that this is the best time to market to consumers: “If you’re not on their radar screen now, why would you be on it after they’ve settled on a product or a store?” Now is the time to spend wisely and earn customer loyalty.

Tips In Action: Retailers Who Thrive

Thrive Through Your Community
Jeweler Jeff Corey, president, Day's Jewelers, Waterville, ME, shows how

Jeff Corey, president of Day’s Jewelers in Waterville, ME, grew up working in his family’s jewelry store along with his six siblings. The business served a small town of 4,000 in Northern Maine.

“It wasn’t easy feeding nine mouths selling jewelry to people with very limited income. But, we did what we had to do because we had to eat,” he says.

It’s no surprise that even in the midst of a struggling economy, Corey -- who purchased Day’s in 1988 -- has a proactive approach to the holiday season. The small independent chain -- with six stores and 140 associates -- has used a creative commitment to its community to thrive.

Ensure Your Store Is Holiday Friendly

The outside preparations you do for the season -- including your marketing and advertising plan -- will only go so far if they aren’t backed up by a quality customer experience once people walk through the door.

“There is really nothing you can do in the advertising world that can take the place of what you do in your own store, or the positive word-of-mouth you can create by taking exceptional care of your customers,” writes Ellen Fruchtman in her “Marketing Intelligence” column at National Jeweler magazine.

She suggests that retailers shift some of their attention from media and promotions to the “little things” that can impact customer service during the hectic holiday season. Among the things to consider: