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BRING IT ON! CHALLENGES DON’T DETER WINDSOR JEWELERS’ DONNIE THOMPSON | May 01, 2013 (0 comments)
Augusta, GA--"Business becomes more challenging every day," says Windsor Jewelers' Donnie Thompson. The company has three stores and five gold buying locations in the Augusta area. The three retail locations include Windsor Jewelers, Freidman's Jewelers, and a Pandora store in the Augusta Mall, and boast about 100 employees, with about 60 devoted to sales.
The Centurion spoke with Thompson about Windsor Jewelers, a super-sized store with 7,000 square foot of sales floor in the 10,000 square foot location (left). Jewelry retailing is a tough job, but Thompson is up to the challenge.
"We're beating last year and that's pretty good. We're managing an increase each month. Our biggest challenge is to make enough margin." Thompson says another challenge is to be ready for today's better-prepared customers. "Customers have so much knowledge so quickly, like on diamonds." Below, owner Donnie Thompson and the Interior of the Augusta location.
Donnie Thompson, above, and the interior of the Augusta location, below.
A secondary-market strategy. One of Thompson's strategies to keep good margins is buying on the secondary market and reselling. "We can make more on those diamonds than we can normally. Buying and selling new is very difficult. We blend those concepts together. We re-cut old diamonds, and do all we can to keep the price right. We find the right merchandise, put the diamond in a new mounting, selling them as estate diamonds. This gives us an almost unbeatable price verses a new piece from a wholesaler."
Along with buying off the street and reselling, Thompson has also tweaked Windsor's merchandise mix a bit. "We carry top brands; the price of gold has been so high, now most of the designers are doing silver and also silver and gold. Those do really well." Windsor Jewelers features 40+ jewelry and watch brands.
Along with adjusting his merchandising strategies, Thompson has tweaked his marketing/advertising plans. "We're doing more on the Internet, trying a little bit of everything. In years past, we did a shotgun approach, blasting a bit at everything. It's an expensive approach, but it reached 80-90% of our market." Thompson recalls a decade ago when adverting was a bit easier, saying that today's channels are so segmented that it's harder to reach customers.
Windsor Fine Jewelers' catalog.
Thompson is trying social media, using his son, Shane Thompson, and two in-house employees to move it forward. "A lot of our employees are on Facebook, etc. They have their own niches."
Windsor's Facebook page showcases their current advertising, offering some merchandise with more scheduled to come online, and reflects a bit of the store's personality. Here's a Facebook video link, showcasing the store's quality control team having fun with the incoming jewelry. One of Windsor's recurring themes, both in store and in advertising, is the company's little green box, below:
While the Internet is where Windsor's marketing and advertising is headed, it's not a direct path to success, slowed by trial and error. Thompson tried using Google to reach first or second place in search results but only ended up with big bills. Thompson continues to tweak his marketing and advertising.
Windsor Jewelers' website has an e-commerce component that continues to grow. "Website sales are up 200% this year," says Thompson. "It's a small percentage of what we do retail." Despite the small percentage, Thompson believes that as bricks and mortar locations shrink that customers will go to the Internet in larger numbers and he wants to be prepared. "All stores see the same challenge. Expenses get more every month and margins continue to shrink."
The Windsor Jewelers' average customer is shopping for a great selection, a great price, and a jeweler who stands behind what he sells. "We offer Pandora to better brands. We're the largest jeweler in this area. We offer lots of diamonds and concentrate on engagement rings. We have the largest selection in the Southeast," says Thompson. "We also know what we're selling. If it's a D color, we sell it as a D color. If it's an J, we sell it as a J."
Thompson's spent his life in the jewelry business, as did his family. "I've always been in it; it's all I've ever done since I was 12 years old. My family worked for Friedman's since the 30s. I've never done anything else. Never really wanted to." It's clear that Thompson is in the right profession.