The 4Cs are not the only things that make a piece of diamond jewelry a sales winner. In an ongoing series, Rapaport Diamond Report explores the “3Ws” — what’s selling, what’s not and why — by going straight to the people who really know — jewelry retailers. Each month, we ask a sampling of retailers to comment on the important issues that are facing the industry today. Here is what they had to say when asked: With the holidays over and a new year starting, what are you planning to restock and when?
JIM SCHWARTZ, PRESIDENT
ROBIN JAMES JEWELERS
CINCINNATI, OHIO
“I will be doing more engagement ring mountings. And I will be restocking on Lorenzo sterling silver and 18-karat yellow gold, semiprecious colored stone pieces — they sold very well. Those are the two main items we’re going to concentrate on, going forward.
“We buy throughout the year. We just became members of Independent Jewelers Organization (IJO), so we’re going to our first trade show involving them in a couple of months.
“We’re very cautious in our buying right now. We have an inventory management system that we use and we reorder our fast sellers but we’re cautious about attempting new things without trying to get information on how they are doing with other retailers.”
PATRICK DAOUD, OWNER
DAOUD’S FINE JEWELRY
FORT LAUDERDALE, FLORIDA
“We’re always restocking, especially larger diamonds and preowned watches; for us, the more inventory, the better. We do some stocking at trade shows. We’ll do bridal merchandise and we’ll buy color.
“We did well at Christmas because we have a wide array of inventory. If someone comes in, they’re going to find something, whether it’s South Sea pearls or a diamond bracelet that’s $80,000 or gold crosses for $300 or a retro piece from the 1940s or preowned David Yurman.”
STEWART BRANDT, OWNER
H. BRANDT JEWELERS
NATICK, MASSACHUSETTS
“I’m restocking my fast sellers, which means I just placed an extraordinarily large order with Pandora. And I will be reordering some very cool anodized stainless steel bracelets, as well as multiple silver items from multiple different vendors with price points up to about $300 retail.
“We had a very good season with the Cherie Dori black and white diamond product, so that will be reordered, but not until this month when I go to the IJO show. With the higher price points, I want to see what new product may have been developed over the winter, so I’ll wait for the show.”
JAN FERGERSON, CO-OWNER
FORD, GITTINGS & KANE
ROME, GEORGIA
“We do most of our buying at Luxury Couture in Las Vegas; we don’t do much buying at all in our store. But we do not let ourselves get out of product that we know is selling and we know we need. We’ve learned that in this day of being able to send a picture instantly and have your coffee heated instantly, everything is instant gratification. So we no longer tell a customer — ‘We may not have it but we can get it for you.’ We try to keep our cases pleasingly filled.
“Diamond stud earrings were very good for us this year, so we will be making sure that our cases are replenished. And rings were good, but for most of those, we work with our diamond suppliers and our vendors and we custom make rings. Luxury watches were big for us in the final few weeks of last year and that’s one of the things we’re working on right now, a reorder of those.”
JONATHAN ZADOK, BUYER
ZADOK JEWELERS
HOUSTON, TEXAS
“We are working on restocking right now, trying to map it out. Diamond studs, diamond pendants, the Riviera necklaces…the very basics are definitely getting restocked.
“We are moving more into some generic merchandise. We actually put in a few lower price points this holiday season and they did quite well. I think people are in the mood to spend but they don’t want to spend that much. We don’t want to let the customer who wants to spend $500 or $1,000 walk away. In these times, you have to capture every sale. So while we’re definitely staying high end, we’re adding some lower price points. A little more silver — we added Tacori’s 18-karat and silver line and DiModolo, who have a sterling silver line, that type of thing.
“In the past two years, I was very conservative in terms of restocking and buying — if it was the right type of item at the right price, I would buy it. But now, you can take a little more risk and try some new lines. 2009 and 2010 were not risk-taking years but in 2011, you can see a little bit of light. We’re preparing for inflation, whether it’s this year or next, whether it’s in loose stones or precious metals. If you have the cash available, it’s a good time to buy loose goods and stock up on that. When you can make only a quarter point in the bank, you might as well put the money into stock.”
STEVEN SINGER, OWNER
STEVEN SINGER JEWELERS
PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA
“We’ve already started restocking, both heavily in loose and in all of our regular goods, for Valentine’s Day. We’re spending quite a bit of money, not necessarily on anything different but just more depth. As things sell, we reorder immediately. And we do buy at some of the shows, but we tend to like to buy in our own ballpark when possible.
“It was a very successful Christmas — one of the best that we have ever had. Business has been very good in all categories. We did have quite a bit that sold out — a lot of big tennis bracelets and tennis necklaces that hadn’t sold in the past. We sold a lot of black diamond jewelry — black diamond studs in different categories and different sizes and also some of the black diamond pendants sold very well. We will definitely be restocking those.”
SCOTT RHODES, OWNER
A. SCOTT RHODES JEWELER
WILMINGTON,NORTH CAROLINA
“Although the year was okay, we had a pretty disappointing Christmas. So in terms of restocking, we’re not looking at a lot. We’ll work with our vendors on the basics: diamonds studs, diamond tennis bracelets, that type of thing.”
COLLEEN RAFFERTY, CO-OWNER
CHRISTENSEN & RAFFERTY FINE JEWELRY
SAN MATEO, CALIFORNIA
“We go to Centurion at the end of January, and we will be looking to probably add certain pieces from lines we are already carrying. Whether I will add a new designer or vendor, I won’t know until I get there, but we’re open to that fact. We are going to go exploring to see what’s out there that might be new and fresh.
“It was a good Christmas for us. Milano watch did well for us and we’ll replace that. There were some lower-price point pieces that sold well for us. We like a lot of different color and several of our colored pieces went. So we are looking to replenish and we’re always looking for the unusual; that’s our niche.”
Article from the Rapaport Magazine - February 2011. To subscribe click here.