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How to Sell to Female Self-Purchasers
Women who buy their own jewelry are a rapidly growing market, but retailers need to retool their approach if they want to attract these customers.
Dec 23, 2019 8:31 AM
By Leah Meirovich
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RAPAPORT... It shouldn’t be a novel idea, but in the jewelry industry,
it’s practically revolutionary. Unlike in almost every other fashion and
accessory retail sector, the idea of jewelers targeting female shoppers as
direct consumers only began to emerge fully in the past couple of years.
But why has this strong and fast-growing segment been
overlooked in the trade for so long? In this male-dominated industry — from its
store ownership to its designers, salespeople and marketing teams — the
long-held belief that men are the primary purchasers has centered around
big-ticket items such as engagement rings.
However, women are no longer the homemakers. They are
entrepreneurs, professionals and business owners with established careers. They
are not only willing to spend money on themselves, but empowered to do so by
their circumstances. The problem is, while the times have changed, jewelry
retailers — and their marketing — haven’t.
More than half of millennial-age women say they are the
primary buyers of jewelry in their households, according to a study by MVI
Marketing. Beyond that, women control more than $20 trillion in global spending
and make up 85% of all brand purchases, said marketing consultant Stephanie
Holland in a recent webinar hosted by jewelry-industry group the Plumb Club.
Holland, who founded the She-conomy blog and specializes in marketing to women,
added that within the next decade, women would control more than two-thirds of
consumer wealth in the US.
Putting that into context, if jewelry retailers continue on
the same marketing and selling trajectory they have followed in the past,
without taking into account who’s actually making the purchase, they will be
severely impairing their business and cutting off a large portion of potential
sales. Lyst, a global fashion-search platform, says that while women are likely
to spend less on an individual piece, they buy up to three times more jewelry
than men do.
But overhauling a long-standing practice isn’t simple, so
how do you sell to self-purchasing women? First and foremost, it’s imperative
to understand their needs and desires, and that begins before they even walk
into the store.
How it looks vs. how it feels
Retailers need to take into account the difference in
mind-set between women and men when it comes to a purchase, says Andrea Hill,
CEO of Hill Management Group. While men base purchases more on performance or
the status it can bring, women relate on a more emotional level, explains Hill,
whose company provides consulting, marketing and other services to small and
mid-size businesses.
Men tend to shop visually, which is why a car advertisement
featuring a sexy woman appeals to them, she says; it equates the product with
virility. However, when it comes to attracting female shoppers, a woman wants
to know how the item will make her or her loved ones feel, or how it relates to
things that matter to her, according to Hill. “Just showing a picture of the
jewelry, the car, the beach vacation, that doesn’t work so well for women,” she
says, but depicting her wearing a necklace while enjoying quality time with her
family or while out to dinner with friends is a good way to close a sale.
On the hunt
Men are utilitarian shoppers, focused on the buy, Hill
continues. They have a goal and want to get in the store, get what they need
and get out, while women are much more interested in the hunt.
“For women, shopping is an activity, not just an objective,”
she clarifies. “It’s not just about the thing you end up buying, it’s all the
fun that went into buying it.”
That’s why retailers need to find a way to engage a woman’s
need to hunt, and not simply purchase. They need to create an experience that
will generate interest and deepen her interaction with the brand, Hill says.
Keep it subjective
When it comes to the need for knowledge, men are relatively
simple, according to Hill. They want objective information, such as the design
or functional requirements of the item they’re looking to purchase. Women, on
the other hand, are looking for objective and subjective information, such as
emotional and social cues, which means retailers need to make it easy for women
to share their shopping experience.
“The typical millennial has no problem telling a salesperson
to ‘hold on — I’m sending a picture of this to my best friend to see what she
thinks,’” Hill says. “That millennial’s mom probably wants input, too, but she
wasn’t raised taking pictures of everything…and it feels rude to her to do it
while a salesperson is helping her.”
If retailers see a client shopping for an expensive item and
notice she isn’t with a companion, they can encourage her to share and help her
do so, Hill suggests. She recommends simply asking, “I can see you like those
earrings, but is there someone you’d like to send a picture to, to get another
opinion? If you put them on again, I can take a picture with your phone, and
you can text it to [whomever you want].”
Play with the space
Women don’t enjoy the traditional jewelry-store experience,
Hill says. While men tend to think about space as compartmented, organized and
sequential — which is how most jewelry stores are set up — women often find it
boring. They don’t want to see rings with rings, metal with metal, diamonds
with diamonds. They want to mix and match and see how things work together.
“The vast majority of jewelry stores are designed for men’s
sensibilities, not women’s,” Hill points out. “For women, the average jewelry
store is dead space. There’s no life in putting things in separate cases and categories.
Men are very linear when they shop; women are very organic. [For them], there’s
a creativity to shopping.”
Most importantly, retailers need to speak to women, ask them
what really matters to them, and above all, pay attention to their responses.
Even if a client wants a lower-end item and you want to upsell, you should do
it relative to her interests, Hill advises; if you’re just upselling and it
doesn’t add value for her, it’s not going to be successful.
“Value is defined by the buyer, not the seller,” she
stresses. “Ask enough questions, listen hard enough, and you will figure out
some ways to increase your sales to her — but not necessarily doing the things
you’re used to thinking of, because those are your definitions.”
This article was first published in the November issue of Rapaport Magazine.
Image: A woman buying jewelry. (Shutterstock)
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Tags:
Andrea Hill, Diamond Producers Association, female self-purchasers, Hill Management Group, Leah Meirovich, MVI Marketing, Plumb Club, Rapaport News, She-conomy, Stephanie Holland
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