Articles and News
Brand News: GSI Partners With Lavalier Insurance; Doves’ New Website; Bufkor Taps Newman; More May 17, 2017 (0 comments)
Lavalier Personal Jewelry Insurance, GSI, Announce Affinity Partnership
New York, NY—Lavalier Personal Jewelry Insurance and Gemological Science International (GSI) have announced an affinity partnership. Lavalier is now offering a 10% premium discount when consumers submit a GSI grading report for jewelry they insure at Lavalier.com.
Debbie Azar, GSI’s co-founder, says, “We are extremely pleased to be able to offer this added value to our customers and to be associated with a premier insurance company like Lavalier/Berkley.” Consumers can obtain instant, online insurance quotes at Lavalier.com by entering just their ZIP code, value of item to be insured and their choice of deductible. The GSI discount is applied when they upload the grading report.
“Reliable, accurate jewelry descriptions and values, such as those from GSI, are indispensable for consumers to obtain appropriate insurance for their treasured jewelry pieces,” explained Joseph Dowd, president of Berkley Asset Protection. “Too often, consumers receive documents with inflated values or vague descriptions that make it difficult to replace or repair with like kind and quality in a claim situation. GSI provides independent, third-party documentation that consumers can rely on.”
The Lavalier policy is “all risk,” covering everything unless expressly excluded. The worldwide coverage includes loss, damage, theft and mysterious disappearance/unexplained loss, newly purchased jewelry and jewelry in transit for inspection, repair or sale.*
Berkley Asset Protection is the fastest-growing insurer of jewelers’ block and fine arts insurance, serving clients in the United States and internationally. It is an operating unit of W. R. Berkley Corporation, one of the nation’s premier commercial lines property-casualty insurance providers in the United States and worldwide. Berkley National Insurance Company, which underwrites the Lavalier policy, is a unit of W. R. Berkley Corporate and headquartered in Naperville, IL. Berkley Asset Protection has an A.M. Best rating of A+ and a Financial Size XV which reflects a strong foundation.
Doves Launches New Website
Great Neck, NY--Doves by Doron Paloma has launched a new state-of-the-art website, concurrent with its new ad campaign. The site, launched just in time for the Luxury and JCK Las Vegas shows, will allow retailers and their customers to see even more of the brand's best-selling styles (retail prices listed), and will be constantly updated with fresh content and jewelry.
“With an ever-changing industry landscape, we continue to look for ways to showcase our jewelry in a user-friendly and modern way to our retail partners and fans across the globe. Our online presence and branding goes hand-in-hand with our creative vision in general: stay ahead of the curve while staying true to our look,” says Yossi Abrahimi, Doves director of sales and marketing.
Michael Newman Joins Bufkor Sales Team
Lewisville, TX—Bufkor Inc. has named Michael Newman to the position of senior business development executive. Newman has more than 25 years’experience in the luxury retail jewelry trade; knowledge he will bring to Bufkor’s retail jeweler clients for their visual merchandising and packaging programs.
Reg Martin, Bufkor vice president of sales, says, “Michael’s enthusiasm and true sense of what works in a retail jewelry environment will be a great boost to our team.” Newman will be based in Southern California and serve Bufkor’s western and Midwestern clients. Contact Newman directly at (949) 300-1199 or mgn@vassigroup.com.
Bufkor, along with Chippenhook and Specialty Premium Packaging, are part of the Vassi Design Group division of SigmaQ.
Virtual Diamond Boutique Adds Colored Gemstones To Offering
New York, NY--Virtual Diamond Boutique (VDB) is expanding its omnichannel offerings, introducing a free colored gemstone sourcing tool within the popular industry platform. With a swipe, it is easy to switch between diamond and gemstone searches. Retailers, vendors, and jewelry designers can download the tool across Apple, Google, and Android devices to access an abundance of colored gemstone inventory.
“We are changing the way the industry sources gemstones,” says Tanya, Nisguretsky, CEO and founding partner. “Many have tried, and failed, to digitize the colored gemstone search process, but since the launch of VDB, we’ve been working hand in hand with our vendors and really listening to their needs, challenges and opportunities. With our combined industry experience and expertise, we have created new technology that gem dealers are very excited about. This colored gemstone search tool will save retailers, wholesalers and designers both time and money and will help them compete in the modern world by capturing customer sales, even outside the store.”
From the app home page, users can select the colored gem inventory section by clicking on an oval gemstone outline. This opens an easy-to-navigate budget slider for adjusting the price range for the stones, as well as an interactive selection wheel at the bottom, which can be rotated to choose stone type, shape, carat weight, lab report information, location of supplier, and country of origin. Further specifications can be chosen within the wheel; for example, under “lab,” users can select which lab reports should be included in the final stone search, with the ability to tap and highlight multiple grading laboratories. The “shape” section allows for not only a variety of cuts, but the ability to choose matching pairs, perfect for designers looking for a set to place into earrings. The “type” section opens a wheel of popular gemstones, and with a tap of a button, further color selections can be chosen.
Inventory can be selected for memo, hold, or direct purchase, and a real-time messenger service creates chats from vendor to retailer, without the need to pick up the phone or send an additional email. VDB can also be used to train sales associates with a limited understanding of colored gemstone pricing, cut, treatments and certs. Whether self-taught or used alongside an in-house gemological tutorial, VDB provides the information they should know about colored gems, allowing for recognition of stones newly encountered in-store. It can also be used to educate customers when they come in the store, with price settings that are easily adjusted to show no cost, or the retailer’s markup.
Gem dealers can list their stones for a nominal fee, uploading HD videos and/or images, full cert details, and contact information. Stores can also choose to list their gemstone inventory for a small fee, allowing them to move inventory within other retailer circles, keeping things fresh in the showcase.
Free to download, and accessible anytime and anywhere, Virtual Diamond Boutique can be accessed on a desktop at www.getvdb.com, or on the App or Google Play stores for the iPhone or Android. For more information on how to sign up and get a free username and password, visit www.vdbapp.com. Additional training tools are also available on the website. For more information, call (212) 221-0975 or email info@vdbapp.com.