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Doyle & Doyle’s New Luxury Retail Approach Is A Huge Win With Millennials | March 11, 2015 (0 comments)
New York, NY—Elizabeth Doyle gets Millennials. She and her sister, Irene Pamela, have made a roaring success from understanding what makes that generation tick, at least when it comes to buying fine jewelry. Their gallery, Doyle & Doyle, in Manhattan’s hip Meatpacking District, is a must-see for any fashionable Millennial looking to get engaged.
From the start, the sisters focused on estate and vintage jewelry. They didn’t plan to build a huge engagement business, but it turned out that way after they discovered that was what their hipster customers really wanted: a symbol of love that didn’t look like everyone else’s engagement ring—and that didn’t cost hedge-fund-manager money, either.
The sisters have impressive pedigrees in the industry. Elizabeth, a G.G., worked as a staff gemologist at GIA’s New York grading lab. Irene Pamela, meanwhile, worked for one of New York’s top color diamond dealers. They opened their first store in 2000, with the dream “to create a beautiful, inclusive bejeweled world wherein we could share our passion for jewelry and its history with our guests—and help them commemorate life’s moments, big and small. When we opened our first store in 2000, we set out to make amazing, beautiful, and collectible pieces accessible to anyone who seeks a rare treasure,” according to their website.
“I’m a total jewelry geek! I love gems, I love the chemistry [of gems and metals], I love to study jewelry history, and what makes it special,” Elizabeth Doyle told The Centurion. “A lot of people have that curiosity. They don’t want jewelry just for jewelry’s sake; they want to know the story behind it that makes it more meaningful.”
Irene Pamela (Pam) and Elizabeth Doyle.
The sisters also believe beautiful fine jewelry should be accessible. Their focus is on estate and vintage jewelry, but today they also offer a house-made collection, designed by Elizabeth, called the Heirloom collection. It’s inspired by historic design but with modern touches. Store merchandise ranges from $100 to $100,000, but the majority of their product is highly accessible and Doyle says most of their [non-engagement] volume comes from the lower-priced pieces. The next most popular [non-engagement] price point is between $1,000 and $2,000.
A page of engagement rings from the Doyle & Doyle website.
That combination of unique plus affordable made the sisters’ gallery a hit with Millennials, especially the “creative class” that frequents the Meatpacking district.
That’s when they discovered the gaping demand for distinctive engagement rings that don’t break the bank. Their original niche of low-priced, pretty vintage jewelry brought the customers in, and very soon they began asking for bridal.
“We listened to our customers and that’s what they told us they want,” says Doyle. As a result, the store now does approximately 75% of its business in engagement rings, estimates Doyle. By extension, about 75% of Doyle & Doyle’s clientele is under age 35.
The typical Doyle & Doyle engagement ring is an estate or vintage piece, sold complete. The Heirloom house brand does have engagement rings but most of their sales are antique or estate. Typical price point for an engagement ring is about $5,000. Most are diamond (or predominantly diamond), but non-diamond engagement rings have always been an important part of Doyle & Doyle’s business.
“People want something symbolic,” says Doyle of customers who opt out of diamonds. They’ll choose things like a colored stone that has particular meaning to them, or perhaps a gimmel fede ring, the style featuring two or three interlocking hoops with clasped hands. (It’s a precursor to the Irish claddagh style, says Doyle.)
Engagement ring shopping at Doyle & Doyle is fairly typical of any luxury jeweler: the couple shops together but the man ultimately makes the purchase.
The Centurion asked Doyle if it’s true that Millennials are more motivated by design than the intrinsic value of fine jewelry.
“Absolutely!” she says. “They want something authentic. They’re happy with steel but it has to be steel for a reason. They’ll buy quality costume jewelry if it’s got something special behind it.”
The entry looking into Doyle & Doyle. Below, the exterior.
With storytelling such an important part of reaching Millennial jewelry customers, Doyle & Doyle’s website has a robust but tightly edited history section. “I love jewelry and I love talking about it and it’s so hard to edit myself when someone asks a question,” laughs Elizabeth Doyle. “My sister tells me ‘look at their eyes and when they glaze over, stop talking!’ They want to know what they’re buying but not every last detail!”
Something that has sparked more interest in detail is Downton Abbey, the runaway Masterpiece series on PBS that takes place in the Edwardian era.
“It’s always fun when popular culture ties into what we’re doing,” says Doyle. They’ve of course blogged about Edwardian jewelry and yes, sold more of it as a result of the show.
A key part of Doyle & Doyle’s Millennial appeal is doing away with the intimidating environment they usually expect from luxury jewelers. Doyle & Doyle is a gallery where jewelry is housed in secure framed glass cases on the wall and presented like art, not just merchandise. The associates and the customer can tour the store and talk about jewelry together rather than across the adversarial barrier of a showcase. The jewelry hangs vertically like it will on the body.
The most important element of success with Millennials is connecting with them, says Doyle. “Form a connection, start a dialog, and really listen to what they want. If they want a certain type of product or environment, we try to give it to them.” Social media is the store’s best marketing vehicle, mainly because of its responsive element.
“It used to be print but now it’s all social,” Doyle told The Centurion. Each channel has its own strong point: Instagram is best for highlighting individual pieces that bring people into the store to say “I want that!” while Facebook is best for telling the brand story. Twitter drives traffic, she says.
Luxury market expert Pam Danziger of Unity Marketing recently highlighted Doyle & Doyle as an outstanding example of “jewelry retail, new-luxury style.”
“For Doyle & Doyle, selling jewelry in new-luxury style is not about the luxury jewelry itself, but about filling the customer's deeply personal need with a special piece of jewelry that symbolizes the emotional connection,” she says.
Top image: A Belle Epoque pin/necklace retails for $6,800. Below, North Star stud earrings from the house-designed West 13th Collection are oxidized silver with 0.01 ct. diamonds. Retail, $145.
