Will the concept of luxury change?
Luxury products are in high demand but short supply. However, Erica Orange says there is a new luxury value proposition, which includes a critical component: time.
“We’re experiencing time on steroids,” she says. “I call it ‘templosion’ — the implosion of events that happen so quickly, in part because of technology. We see its fingerprints everywhere. The challenge for retailers is creating more time-based efficiencies for their customers. Given the migration toward digital and online, the brick-and-mortar experience needs to be redefined by leveraging time and creating novel and bespoke in-store experiences.”
This, she continues, is “one of the things propelling the trend toward [temporary] retail pop-ups and also the rise of really Instagram-worthy experiences, such as the Museum of Ice Cream in New York City or the House of Rosé [a Manhattan townhouse devoted to rosé wine]. Are they gimmicky? Yes — but with a high price tag associated with them. These are things that are driving and leveraging the brand message through social media channels.”
Should jewelers strive to be more innovative?
Orange believes innovation is just a buzzword that has been co-opted: If everyone is being innovative, then no one is being innovative. Instead, she suggests, they should be imaginative.
“Innovation is a linear concept that takes us from A to B to C,” she explains. “Imagination is not a straight path — it can take us from A to Z and then back to N to Q. Jewelers need to get onto another bandwagon with technology.”
She points to 3D printing as an example. “Jewelers should start thinking of how to create a market when 4D printing becomes available — the fourth dimension being time. What if a customer can buy one piece of jewelry that morphs into different pieces based on what she is wearing? Sounds sci-fi, but it’s really cool.”
Jewelers may think of themselves first as retailers and creative designers, using technology mainly for computer-aided design (CAD) and customer relationship management (CRM) systems. How can they shift their focus to other types of technology?
While jewelry retailers may see themselves outside the tech space, Orange believes they are, in fact, technology companies. It’s what they choose to do in that role that will distinguish them.
“Artificial intelligence (AI) will change everything,” she declares. “One of the biggest things it’s doing for retailers is automating redundant tasks. People have to get past the scare tactics that AI will eliminate jobs. Instead, we should think of it as augmented intelligence that will free us up from the more mundane back-office tasks to let us be more creative. People will have a more symbiotic relationship with that technology. We need to work collaboratively with those tools and leverage them in new ways.”
Again, she cites the importance of time. “Time has to be considered as a currency. AI can help the jeweler monetize waiting time and enhance the shopping experience. Here is one scenario. I can just hold up my mobile phone in a jewelry store, and when I look at the interface, I see an augmented version of myself. Then I see how I would look wearing a necklace and earrings or other combinations of jewelry. AI becomes particularly valuable for designers because it will allow them to do what they do best and leverage AI for everything they don’t have time for. It all goes back to time.”
Even if jewelers become technology experts, they will still embrace a customer-centric philosophy. Doesn’t it all revolve around the customer?
In Orange’s view, it is difficult even to define the customer. Generation X, Generation Y and now Generation Z have defied traditional labels and shopping characteristics.
“Retailers say they want to be customer-centric, but the fact is that someone can be 10 different people at once. Getting to understand what the person wants is getting that much harder,” she explains. “A lot of companies do hyper-segmentation by dividing people up generationally. But even that poses problems. Gen Z — ‘cybrids,’ or cyber hybrids — are the first generation in history to have a symbiotic relationship with technology. It’s almost like neuro-wiring. And they have the same attention span as a fish — eight seconds max, but more like four seconds.”
She advocates subdividing Gen X and Gen Y into smaller groups. “Those born in 1978 to 1982 should be their own category, because they are so different from those born before and after. The challenge is, how do you attach consumer branding to them, and how do you pinpoint younger consumers who are all over the place — and who go shopping with their thumbs? They are fiercely brand-disloyal and more concerned with what the company stands for and its integrity than the product itself.”
Orange recommends that jewelers “adopt play-based experiences, with games that resonate with cybrids. They have to create shopping experiences that are fun and whimsical.”
Does brick-and-mortar retail have a future?
Trends also have powerful counter-trends, Orange points out.
“We see a generation that is hyper-connected but still craving the tactile, the sensory,” she says. “As much as things have migrated to technology, one thing that makes us uniquely human is our desire to connect with the physical world. And that will never go away.”
Image: Erica OrangeArticle from the Rapaport Magazine - January 2019. To subscribe click here.