The 4Cs are not the only things that make a piece of diamond
jewelry a sales winner. In an ongoing series, Rapaport Magazine 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 in mid-November: “What are your expectations
for Christmas? Has holiday shopping started at your store and what have you
stocked to help customers fulfill their gift lists?
Amanda
Coleman-Phelps, Sales Manager
Nelson Coleman Jewelers
Towson, Maryland
“We are starting to see holiday shopping. We had our ladies’
night on November 17, which is a big event committed to creating wish lists.
And we had our biggest RSVP to it in the past three years — 100 women. And that
has given us a positive outlook for the holiday season.
“We have stocked more fashion, price-sensitive items for the
holidays. That’s kind of been a work in progress for the past couple of years,
finding what is the best inventory now that our economy is changing. For a
while, it seemed there was a switch to buying multiple items instead of one big
item. But we’re seeing a hybrid of that this year. We are finding that the
middle price point probably is the most effective, around $600 to $1,000. We have been having higher-ticket sales
for our bridal.”
Dale
Gordon, Owner
Gordon Jewelers
Boonville, Missouri
“This is a small, rural town and our economy is in fair
condition. So I think we’ll have a decent Christmas. People have started
shopping a little in November. Usually, we get the shoppers coming in after
Thanksgiving.
“We’re doing a promotion for wish lists and ladies are
filling them out. It’s still a little early to tell whether they’ll be looking
for price point merchandise or higher-ticket items. But in terms of what to
stock for the season, you have to do a mix of price points.”
Heather
Eichhorn, Marketing Director
Eichhorn Jewelry, Inc.
Decatur, Indiana
“We are expecting this season to be better than last year.
We’re ready for Christmas. We participated in the Decatur downtown Christmas
open house earlier in November and we’ve had quite a few shoppers already. And
so we’re a little bit ahead of Thanksgiving.
“We’re anticipating purchases in price points across the
board, but we’ve sold more 1-carat-plus this year than we have in quite a few
years. And we’re happy with that. In terms of what we’re stocking for the
holidays, we have a little bit of everything. We do a lot of estate sales, too,
and because of the gold buying, we’ve gotten quite a bit in. But also because
of gold prices, we have quite a bit more silver than we’ve ever had. And gold
plated — we actually never carried any gold plate until recently.”
Don
Blakeman, Owner/President
Blakeman’s Fine Jewelry
Rogers, Arkansas
“It’s booming. This is going to be an explosive year; it’s
just fantastic. We had the first holiday shopper come in on November 16 and
that’s extraordinarily early. Usually, it doesn’t start until around December
10. And it’s really all about the last three days.
“But just in general, everyone’s upbeat. And the stuff that’s
going is big diamonds and Rolex watches.”
Lynn
McCary Thomas, Owner
McCary’s Jewelers
Shreveport, Louisiana
“We’re very lucky where we are because we have natural gas in
the area that’s pretty profitable. And we have already seen people start coming
in for the holidays. We’re going to be pretty busy.
“Customers are going for both price point and higher-ticket
merchandise; there’s no doubt about that. The bigger-ticket stuff will be
later, when guys wake up and think, ‘I have to get something.’ But diamond
earrings are always a big hit and we’ve done real well with studs the past few
years. We’ve stocked our tried-and-true merchandise — some designer lines, some
silver alternatives and a lot of mixture, a little more yellow gold with
everything.”
Brant
Bateman, Co-Owner
LeeBrant Jewelers
Atlanta, Georgia
“It’s a little slow yet for us. We are seeing some
bigger-ticket items go. But traffic is still down a bit. We’re more of a
high-end store and most of our clientele wait until about December 10 before
they start spending their holiday dollars.
“In terms of how the season will go — you tell me what the
stock market is going to do and I’ll tell you how Christmas is going to do.”
Phyllis
Weeks-Daniel, Store Manager
Jessop Jewelers
San Diego, California
“I think our expectations are cautiously moderate, with
cautious, I think, being the key word. We have not started to see any real
buildup in traffic. We’ve had a few inquiries, but with Thanksgiving a week
away, there hasn’t been any real uptick in business. I think it will start late
this year.
“We’ve made an effort to hit a little lower price point this
holiday. We’ve brought in some sterling items that we hadn’t normally carried
in the past. So we have a few things available in the few-hundred-dollar range.
And we do a newsletter where we make sure our clients are aware that we have
both pieces in the $5,000 to $10,000 range and that we also have pieces for
$200.”
Ed
Fey, Co-Owner
Fey & Co.
La Grange, Illinois
“The holiday traffic hasn’t started this early. It’s usually
the last two weeks before Christmas; it gets later and later. We’ve done more
price point merchandise for the past three years and we continued that trend
this year. ”
Jim
Anderson, Owner
Morgan’s Jewelers
Winona, Minnesota
“We have started to see some traffic; we’ve had to bring out
our Christmas paper to start wrapping a few things. However, I’m real concerned
about the prices of gold and diamonds putting things into a little bit higher
price range than what we’ve had to work with in the past. And I think people
still come in wanting to stay within a certain price range and we’re having a
hard time reaching that. So if we have a year that’s the same as last, I’ll be
happy.
“The traffic we’re seeing coming in is looking for price
points — the things we’ve been selling have been in a lower price range. I
tried to stock that way, but it was very difficult.”
Article from the Rapaport Magazine - December 2011. To subscribe click here.