Articles and News
BRAND AND INDUSTRY NEWS: PANDORA LOSS “LESS THAN EXPECTED;” NEW MOBILE MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE, MORE August 15, 2012 (0 comments)
Pandora Names New North American Head; Loses Less Than Anticipated
Columbia, MD—Danish bead maker Pandora Jewelry has promoted Scott Burger, left, to president of its North American operations. The 38-year-old Burger was formerly vice president of operations. He immediately replaces John White, who is leaving the company to take another position.
Meanwhile, the firm last week reported a smaller-than-forecast drop in operating profits and revenues for the second quarter. According to this report on Reuters.com, the forecasted loss is the result of the jeweler implementing a costly plan to replace poor-selling stock with newer products. The replacement campaign began last February on the heels of disappointing sales in 2011 that led to the replacement of the firm’s CEO. But a report on Rapaport Tradewire last week says the company’s second-quarter year-over-year profit decline was -90%, with a -10% drop in sales. The stock-balancing program calls for $30.5 million worth of returned product to be replaced with $51.7 million in new product.
Image: Baltimore Sun
ARMS Launches Mobile Business Management Tool
Las Vegas, NV—ARMS iQ is a new cloud (web) based management tool that gives jewelers instant access to their vital business data from anywhere in the world, via iPad, iPhone, Android, laptop, or any other device connected to the Internet.
ARMS Group of Companies founder, Malcolm Alderton, says, “For anyone serious about growing their business and staying ahead of the competition by monitoring their key performance indicators daily, and comparing them against previous time periods for their store as well as current trends amongst their peers, ARMS iQ is an essential tool.”
The “My Dashboard” screen graphically and statistically displays more than 20 current (less than 24 hours old), KPI’s on a business so jewelers can keep tabs on their store and make informed business decisions from anywhere. The “My Trends” screen graphically and statistically displays sales, mark-up, average sale, stock turn, and GMROI per supplier and per department, with up to five years’ graphical comparisons, allowing jewelers to see which areas are decreasing and which are growing. Trends are color coded to easily identify without reading numbers.
The “What’s Hot” section shows each supplier’s best-selling design numbers based on retail sales from all participating jewelers in a country. It also compares a store’s selling price to the aggregated median selling price of all other participants. Finally, ARMS iQ “Inter-firm Trends” shows how a store’s performance compares to various groups of peers. For information, contact Malcolm Alderton, (702) 990-4100, or email malcolm@arms.com.au
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Milenyum Mining Drops “Zultanite” Trademark For Its Turkish Diaspore
Milas, Turkey--Milenyum Mining Ltd (MML), the world’s only supplier of the Turkish gemstone color change diaspore, announces the termination of the Zultanite trademark. The company will continue to supply the gem, but will market and promote it under its mineralogical name Turkish diaspore.
Turkish diaspore is mined from the only known gem quality diaspore deposit, high in Turkey’s Anatolian mountains. MML, a member of the International Colored Gemstone Association, practices ethical mining techniques including environmentally safe procedures to protect water sources from chemicals, debris, rubbish, silt and biological pollutants; minimizing the destruction of flora and fauna; restoring mined land as close as possible to its original condition; and strongly opposing unfair labor practices or unsafe working environments.
An image from www.zultanite.org's homepage shows the greenish/reddish color-change gemstone.
WSJ Says Some Olympians Are Platinum Medalists
New York, NY—To recognize the most impressive gold medalists at the Olympics, The Wall Street Journal has devised its own “platinum medal” contest.
Taking the results from the timed events at this year's Games, WSJ ranked each of the gold medalists by how much they beat the silver medalist by, in percentage terms. The top 10 were deemed “platinum medalists” by the paper, as their performances are even better than gold. Only timed events were considered.
The most dominant showing of the Games in a timed event was by Great Britain's women's team pursuit entry in track cycling. The British team set a world record and beat the silver medalist United States by 2.84%.
Of the eight other “platinum” medalists, seven were from the United States, led by Allison Schmitt in the women's 200-meter freestyle. Sprinter Allyson Felix was the only Olympian to win two platinum medals as a member of the 4 x 100- and 4 x 400-meter relays. But there was no platinum for either of the Olympics' two most celebrated athletes, American swimming legend Michael Phelps and Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt. But Ryan Lochte, Phelps's top American rival, did get one.
Cindy Edelstein Honored in 2012 Small Business Influencer Awards
Pelham, NY--Cindy Edelstein, founder of the Jewelers Resource Bureau, has been voted a “Community Choice” honoree in the 2012 Small Business Influencer Awards. Edelstein achieved the designation as the result of receiving top votes from the small business community in the popular voting segment of the awards. She was one of the top five popular vote getters out of more than 300 nominees, in the category of Experts.
Cindy Edelstein
The Small Business Influencer Awards honor those who are influential to small businesses in North America, through the products, services, knowledge, information, or support they provide. Edelstein, the only person from the fine jewelry industry nominated, was among a wide field that included New York Times best-selling authors and other experts from much broader business fields.
The awards are designed to recognize the unsung heroes of small businesses: those who support and encourage entrepreneurs and small business owners, and help them become and stay successful.
Says Anita Campbell, CEO of Small Business Trends and one of the co-founders of the awards, "Influencers are those who play crucial roles in the small business ecosystem, but who often are in the background. Many of the Community Choice honorees are themselves small business owners, entrepreneurs or small businesses."
Edelstein garnered more than 2,000 votes during the contest and she also racked up one of the highest amount of Facebook likes, tweets, comments, and testimonials.
Rapaport Conference Set For August 29
Mumbai, India—The 2013 Rapaport International Diamond Conference will take place in Mumbai, India at the Taj President Hotel on August 29. Conference speakers and topics will include:
- India’s New Regulatory and Banking Environment, with Rohan Shah, managing partner and taxation manager, Economic Laws Practice; Dr. Suresh Surana, founder, RSM Astute Consulting Pvt. Ltd.; Biju Patnaik, regional head of RBS Asia, International Diamond & Jewelry Group; Vasant Mehta, vice president IDMA and previous chair of the Gem and Jewelry Promotion Council (GJEPC); and Sanjay Kothari, vice chairman, GJEPC
- Diamond Prices, Commoditization and Investment, with Martin Rapaport, chairman of the Rapaport Group; Russell Mehta, managing director of Rosy Blue India; Ashish Mehta, partner, Kantilal Chhotilal; and Vishal Doshi, group executive director, Shrenuj.
- Diamond Jewelry, Branding and Luxury Product Development, with Mehul Choksi, chairman and managing director of Gitanjali Gems Limited and Sumesh Wadhera, managing director, AOJ Media Pvt Ltd.
- Trick or Treat, Dealing with Synthetics, with Matthew Hall, director of Gemological Institute of America (GIA) Mumbai laboratory operations, and Mark Brauner, co-CEO of International Gemological Institute (IGI) Worldwide.
Register at www.diamonds.net/idc, idc@diamonds.net or (+91) 22-6627-2600.
UK-Based Retail Group to Work With CIBJO on Corporate Responsibility
Milan, Italy—The Company of Master Jewellers, the United Kingdom’s largest jewelry buying group, has announced it is working with CIBJO, the World Jewellery Confederation, in the area of corporate social responsibility in the global jewelry industry. CMJ has more than 150 jewelry retailers representing 270 shops under its umbrella. Its CEO, Willie Hamilton, has been invited to join a CIBJO committee to draft a code of conduct for international jewelry trade events. He will work alongside representatives from leading jewelry trade shows.