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

Facebook News Feed Update: Get Visual or Get Lost!

In early March, Facebook announced that it is rolling out a major redesign of its News Feed. As the central source for users' updates from friends and fan pages, this is big news. For jewelry companies with brand pages, the new design will impact how you engage with your customers and prospects. The good news is that the updated Facebook News Feed is designed to make it easier for users to interact with brand pages and vice versa. Here are the key updates, so you can capitalize on the changes to the Facebook News Feed:

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:

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:

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:

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:

Sell like a Kindergartner

More than two decades ago, Robert Fulgum’s popular book of essays, All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten, got adults thinking about the importance of those early life lessons. Echoing Fulgum’s philosophy, Jewelry Information Center’s Helena Krodel notes that in this economy, with all the worry, it is easy to overlook basics of good business.

Krodel offers tips on how to sell jewelry like a kindergartner:

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.

Keep Customers Comfortable with Seating Areas

When it comes to improving your store’s environment, every corner counts. One area that can be improved with simple positioning and furniture changes is the sitting area, which needs to be inviting and versatile to make customers feel comfortable when making important purchase decisions.

In his INSTORE magazine editorial, “Have a Seat,” Paul Holewa shares simple ideas from Ruth Mellergaard, principal of retail design firm GRID/3, that will instantly improve the lounge area of your store:

Conserve Your Energy

With gas and oil prices through the roof, energy usage in your store can have a big impact on your bottom-line. The Wall Street Journal (subscription required) article “Strategies for Reining In Energy Costs,”  notes that prices aren’t likely to go down anytime soon, so it’s important to figure out where to make changes for both short and long-term cost savings.

Small business reporter Kelly K. Spors shares the following tips to help companies save energy (and money):

• Focus first on the big energy sappers: While a patchwork approach can be tempting, Spors says you’ll get the most bang from your buck if you target the big culprits. She gives the example of a restaurant installing more energy efficient refrigeration and lighting systems. As a jeweler, lighting costs -- for overall ambiance and displays -- are probably number one on your list. One way to put a dent into these costs is to use more energy-efficient light bulbs. While these cost more than standard bulbs, Spors says they will pay for themselves in longer-term savings.

Truly Distinguish Service

You think your customer service differentiates your store from the pack, but are you sure? In this ultra competitive and challenging environment, service has taken on an even bigger role, writes Suzanne DeVries in a column for National Jeweler magazine.

“Remember: Clients can demand and receive better service than ever before because there are so many stores competing for their business. You have to work harder than everyone else to become -- and remain -- the jeweler of choice,” she writes.

Target "Heavy Owners"

According to the Diamond Promotion Service, heavy owners of jewelry (those who already have eight or more pieces of jewelry including diamonds) are key to market success.

These consumers increased their jewelry spending 12% last year and 19% during the last recession. Despite the current economy, more than half of these shoppers say they plan to purchase jewelry in the next two years, that they’re interested in all piece types including upgrades and own multiples of all piece types.

The DPS offers the following advice on how to thrive with jewelry-heavy consumers:

• Make sure you reach them frequently with announcements of your new designer collections, upcoming events and milestones (like a store anniversary party). These are the folks to target with new occasion ideas: birthday diamonds, diamond gifts from women to women, Bat Mitzvah diamonds, diamonds for the birth of a child.

Evaluating Sales One Square-Foot at a Time

Efficient management can make the difference between a high-profit and low-profit store.

For example, the 2007 Jewelers of America Cost of Doing Business Survey, found high-profit stores were able to use their space to a greater advantage. Sales per square foot were $538.27 for high-profit stores, compared to $488.76 for lower profit stores.

The first step to increasing your sales per square foot is figuring out where your store stands. Jewelers of America’s Director of Education David Peters offers up these simple tips for evaluating your space.

Light Right

Emphasize the beauty of your colored gemstones with the proper lighting.

With colored gemstones getting some of the best margins these days, you want to show them off in the best light. Jewelers of America’s Counter Points: Communicating Color: Selling the Value And Beauty of Colored Gemstones, published in The J Report, advises retailers that a stone may look beautiful under one type of light, dull under another.

When highlighting specific product details, like gemstones, it’s important to have the appropriate accent lighting, make sure you consider the Color Rendering Index (CRI) and Color Temperature (measured in Kelvins) when choosing your lighting fixtures.

Here are a few guidelines: