Sense of engagement

Almost all jewelers describe their store ambience as “inviting…welcoming…like home.” Yet creating an environment that encourages people to buy may require more subtlety than a warm greeting or a comfortable place to sit. In fact, customers may not even be aware of the individual elements that set the stage for shopping. In an effort to drive business, jewelers are now embracing a multisensory approach incorporating sight, touch, hearing, smell and taste.

“We made an intentional decision to make all five senses part of our brand,” explains Dianna Rae High, owner of Dianna Rae Jewelry in Lafayette, Louisiana. “Generally, people buy jewelry to celebrate a special time in their lives. But that doesn’t mean it’s stress-free. Often, it’s an emotional and expensive decision. By touching all the senses, we’re trying to make it as pleasurable as possible.”

The décor at Erik Runyan Jewelers in Vancouver, Washington, has what owner Erik Runyan describes as an “Under the Canoe” theme (see box). “It was a well-thought-out plan to include sensory marketing in our new store, which would also make it more interesting to a new generation of customers,” he says. “The canoe and the nautical ambience are 100% branding.”

Sensory marketing gives jewelers an edge. “I can’t compete on any level with a big-box store,” explains Runyan. “Yet I can swim in a different niche and do well.” To illustrate the point, he recalls how one young man who had purchased an engagement ring couldn’t wait to show his fiancée the store. “The store environment made him proud to buy it here.”

Here are some of the ways retailers are tapping into the five senses.

Sight

A yellow blown-glass sun and 400 square feet of blue blown-glass sky welcome customers to Talisman Fine Jewelers in El Dorado Hills, California. “Our vision is to bring the outdoors inside in a surreal depiction,” explains owner Andrea Riso. A winding “river” filled with semiprecious stones and rocks runs the length of the store, airplanes are suspended from the ceiling, and the guitars on the wall of the Library Lounge can be taken down and played.

“Every single element was deliberately designed to create an environment that’s seamless with the natural beauty that surrounds us,” she says. Creating an open, expansive feel was a must for Riso, who insisted on “very, very high ceilings” and glass walls that allow natural light to shine through. “We don’t want customers to feel locked in,” she states, adding that the store’s distinctive ambience has “absolutely contributed to increased sales.”

Touch

Both High and Riso advocate displaying easily accessible cubic zirconia prototypes for customers to hold and feel. A brand-new prototype at Riso’s store features “magnetic sets — ring heads, different cuts, colors, halos, shank styles — so customers can touch the jewelry,” she relates. “Integrating the technology and the tactile has been very effective.”

Hearing

All agree that music is an essential element to set a mood — as long as it doesn’t distract from the goal of getting the customers to buy.

“The music tends to ebb and flow with the audience,” notes Runyan, who uses sound to reinforce his branding message. “We have speakers that splash sounds of rolling waves to give a more immersive feel. Smooth Jazz is fine, but if we can, we like to bring our customers along on a sea voyage.”

The jewelers acknowledge that they alter their playlists according to the shopping demographic.

“Our core customer is in the 45-to-58 age range, so ’80s New Wave is a good choice,” says Riso. She mixes it up, adding steel drum music and Bossa Nova tunes in the summer to evoke a “piña colada” feel.

Like every other marketing element, music requires attention to detail. High recalls helping a man buy an engagement ring. “He was already nervous, when suddenly the song ‘Another One Bites the Dust’ [by rock group Queen] started playing,” she recounts. “I immediately saw how he tensed up even more.” A quick-thinking salesperson changed to a soothing tune and saved the sale.

Smell

As with music, scent cannot be overpowering. “Scent changes our mood,” says High, who uses an oil diffuser with a light grapefruit scent that she describes as “calming and refreshing.” Runyan, who also believes smell is a memorable characteristic, incorporates lightly scented candles.

However, citing research that fragrances can be off-putting to a majority of people, Riso is adamant about ensuring a fragrance-free environment.

“We eradicate scent,” she insists — to the point that she does not allow her staff to wear fragrance and uses an air neutralizer to remove any scent after a perfume-wearing customer enters the store. Windex and citrus-based cleaning products are the only scents she allows.

Taste

Customers always like a little nosh. “You’d be surprised at the difference a snack at 3 p.m. makes,” says High, who offers customers water, soft drinks, beer and wine when they come in. “People need a little pick-me-up — and it puts them in a much better mood.” Riso, who places huge jars of chocolates, nuts and Jelly Belly candies all over her store, concurs.

Offering food and drink to clients can also be another branding opportunity: Runyan serves wine with labels bearing the “Under the Canoe” icon and tagline.

There is a distinct correlation between the lure of jewelry and appealing to the senses.

“We’re in the happy business,” says Riso. “Jewelry is an extension of people’s lives. No matter the occasion, it’s special. Their time spent with us needs to be multisensory so we can excite and delight all their senses.”

Ship-shape shopping experience

Hanging from the ceiling of Erik Runyan Jewelers is the retailer’s signature image: a 30-foot, hand-hewn, upside-down wooden canoe.

“Everything that happens ‘Under the Canoe’ is unique,” explains Erik Runyan, a fourth-generation jeweler and licensed ship captain.

While a nautical theme is at the helm of the store’s branding, it is the display case of the Side by Side Diamond Selling Solution by Joseph Asher Collection that anchors the multisensory appeal. The approximately 6-foot-tall, jet-black showcase is filled with product.

“Its rotating LED lights make the diamonds in the collection wink and sparkle even when you’re standing still,” says Runyan. “Several times each week, someone literally comes through our doors just to get a closer look at it. It’s like a beacon.”

Once a customer is standing in front of the display, a salesperson will walk over and click a remote control. “And then we watch the customer’s jaw drop as the front glass retracts like a super-smooth treasure chest,” he continues. “Then, when the salesperson reaches in and selects a piece of jewelry to show the dazzled customer, a video starts playing on the built-in 24-inch screen, highlighting the very piece that is being shown.”

It only takes a short time for the show to work its magic. In the span of about two minutes, says Runyan, this selling tool has “pulled in a customer off the street, raised their eyebrows with hidden technology, and tickled their emotions by showing synchronized videos of happy jewelry events. Now that’s customer engagement.”

Image: Dianna Rae Jewelry

Article from the Rapaport Magazine - July 2019. To subscribe click here.