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Cover
Retail Rap
By Phyllis Schiller
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| TAJ Company |
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: “Are you seeing an increase in female self purchasing? What are they buying?”
“We have a lot of independent women who do self purchase here. We’re a business that’s owned by five women, so we’re pretty strong in the female category. We’ve sold a lot of bracelets this season, it seems. And maybe it’s because we all love the diamond stackable bracelets. That’s a real strong category right now. They run from less than $1,000 to $4,000 or $5,000. It’s a high-end purchase. We try to make the women comfortable with giving themselves permission to think about themselves once in a while.
“I think the younger professional women already know that they’re working to be able to have nice things in their lives. We’re a big medical town and we’re a college town, so we do have doctors and professors who come in here and they will treat themselves to something they like. I think it’s harder for the mom who has small children at home to think of buying for herself. It’s more the empty-nesters and young professionals, including the Millennials, who pretty much know that it’s okay for them to think of themselves.”
“We definitely are seeing women self purchasing, but for us it’s more of a price-point item. It can range from anything from a $70 Kendra Scott piece up to a name brand fashion piece, such as a couple of thousand dollar stackable bands. We really are targeting Facebook and Instagram right now, posting fun things like stackable bands to add to your wedding ring or new fashion pieces that come in. And we’re really seeing a good response. We’re located in a town with a university, so we do draw a large 20-something crowd, but we also have 30-something-and-up women through the more mature customer.”
“Women are definitely buying for themselves. It’s probably $1,000 to $4,000 things, more fine fashion jewelry. Earrings and rings are most popular. It’s across the board in terms of age; it all depends on income. I constantly send our customers pictures and emails and texts, and we do social media.”
“Certainly, we are well aware that female self purchase is a real part of our business today. We have some good watch customers who are female self purchasers. They’ll be on top of the newest watches that come out. Women are also buying diamonds, gem-set pieces, pearls, more fashion-forward jewelry…it really runs the gamut. We definitely see it. It still doesn’t exceed gift giving but it is a nice part of our business.
“We do reach out via personal direct contact with some of our customers who we know to be self purchasers. One of our salespeople here is also a designer and she has clients who have come to appreciate her styling and her designs. When she finishes a new piece or gets a new piece in, she’ll call them so they can come in.
“It would appear that the majority of those who are self purchasing on a regular basis are in the 35-to-60 age category. I don’t see too many 25-year-olds buying significant self purchases of $3,000 to $5,000 on a regular basis.”
“We definitely are seeing women self purchasers. Mostly, it’s in our estate department. Usually, women’s self purchases tend to be made by someone making an impulse purchase. So they’ll come in and look and see what we have. It tends to be the more established woman who self purchases. We are definitely seeing more of this.”
“Yes, we are seeing women buying higher-ticket items for themselves. Recently, we had a woman come in and make a self purchase of $9,000. It was a fashion-forward item.”
“Women will buy fashion accessories for themselves, but not high-end pieces. We’re seeing that only very rarely. It was more prevalent well before the recession than it is now. I don’t think the recovery has been substantial enough to make people feel comfortable with high-ticket self purchasing. If it’s a homemaker and the husband is the breadwinner, she generally does not feel comfortable spending on herself. The kids come first and the groceries, clothing come first. She might spend $100 to $300 on herself.”Article from the Rapaport Magazine - October 2016. To subscribe click here.
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