|
|
Cover
Retail Rap
By Phyllis Schiller
| | Zeira |
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: “Have you noticed more of your female customers self-purchasing jewelry?” “I think it’s definitely been a continuing trend — partly because women who are working have money to spend. It’s a self-reward thing for working. I do it — I’m not frivolous about it, it has to be something I love. And I think I’m typical in that respect. “We have a Diamond Club, which we’ve had since 1970. The majority of the people in the club, three-quarters, are women. One lady is 92 and an original member. The club was established to get more traffic in the store but, more importantly, to let women put something on a wish list and that was their goal to save toward. And then they were encouraged to save for another piece or their significant other was told, ‘she’s got so much money saved, why don’t you match it.’ “I think more people are not relying on someone else for purchases. Partly because the savvy shopper knows if you don’t buy it, it’s gone and you might not see another exactly like that.”
“Women are buying a lot lately. And they’re buying bigger purchases than ever before, nicer mounting for the diamonds, nicer fashion pieces. I’ve seen this happening for the past 25 years, but in the past year, it’s been more active than it ever was. I see the women making the decision to buy on their own a lot more easily.”
“It’s not a huge part of our business, but we do see some of it — in both color and diamond goods. For instance, we had a customer buy a large pear-shaped morganite in rose gold for herself. I recently started selling some High Pressure- High Temperature treated pink diamonds and women have taken a great liking to that and we’ve sold several pieces of that as self-purchases. So it’s not necessarily the standard stuff that is selling for us, it’s pieces that are a little different, outside of the norm. When they see something they like, it’s not something you could pull off a shelf at a big-box store.”
“I think it’s about the same as it’s always been. I do see a good percentage of women coming in to self-purchase. They buy a little bit of everything, both fashion and gemstone jewelry. The sales are smaller amounts than what perhaps a husband or boyfriend would spend but the women do purchase for themselves.”
“We have two stores, one I run and one my husband runs. And I have a huge amount of women self-purchasing and always have. It’s always been a strong area for us. What I find interesting is at my husband’s store, which is in a much more upscale area, the women will come in and look and look, but say they need to run it by their husbands. Whereas the women who come in my store are generally professionals and while they might not spend huge amounts, they generally don’t think twice about a self-purchase. Colored stones are really popular as well as diamonds.”
“We’ve gone after more self-purchases by women. And we’ve seen a major influx in business for women self-purchasing. But it’s about the price point. We’ve brought in fashion pieces from designers with price points from $500 to $2,500 — small diamonds and fashion jewelry. Not everyone wants to spend $20,000. They’re out to lunch and they might have $1,000 they can spend and they don’t have to call home.”
“Before the recession, it was pretty prevalent and then it slowed down. But it’s coming back, more and more. Women are buying lines like Marco Bicego and SOHO. Sometimes, the husbands give them a gift certificate to use or if their husband gives them a bracelet, they’ll come back in for the matching earrings. Fashion hoop earrings and lines whose price points are a bit lower, under $500, are a big category.Women love earrings and if they see a pair they like, they buy it. We have some initial pendants by Rebecca that women buy for themselves and their daughters. The young professional women will come in and buy a TAG Heuer watch. I see it as a good category that we certainly cater to.”
“Absolutely. We’ve definitely seen an increase in that category, but it’s always been pretty consistent for us. Some of the brands that we carry really lend to women self-purchasing. Hearts On Fire, Roberto Coin, John Hardy are brands that do a great job with fashion jewelry and right-hand rings that ladies are purchasing for themselves. “It’s more about the fashion and whether they’ll enjoy wearing it, rather than the price. We have a few women clients who will spend $30,000, $40,000, $50,000, although they don’t come in every week. And we have those who come in and just want to buy themselves something. We had a client come in today and buy an $800 John Hardy piece.”Article from the Rapaport Magazine - April 2015. To subscribe click here.
|
|
|
|