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Charles Krypell: Insights from a $4 Million Covid-19 Season on the Road-Part II January 31, 2021 (0 comments)
New York, NY--This is the second of a three-part series in the words of Charles Krypell and his nephew Brian Krypell. Here Charles and Brian discuss what was selling at Trunk Shows during the Pandemic Holiday Season of 2020, and provide plenty of advice on better understanding and working with the consumer to create Trunk Show success.
What Was Selling for Holiday '20
For Holiday 2020, there was a major focus on Gold and Diamond products with an intrinsic value disproportionate to the asking price that the retailers’ customers wanted to purchase.
Fashion lightweight layered gold and diamond seems to be leveling off from its “everyone needs to look the same,” purchasing. This season it seemed as if consumers entering the jewelry stores were reverting back to wanting quality, nice weight in the jewelry piece, quality in diamonds in that piece, and once again straying away from the Stepford mentality of buying what everyone else in town has.
The consumer seems to be more educated. That is because with gold pricing increasing, the consumer understands the importance of investing in jewelry not just for the potential fiscal portion, but the fact that they want the jewelry they are purchasing to be in their family for a lifetime. They are not buying jewelry per se to adorn themselves, but to enjoy wearing it so as to be fortunate one day to hand it down through their lineage to next of kin. This will be a true generational moment in their lifetime and a big part of why they are purchasing jewelry in the moment.
Other performing items that we were selling this season were center diamond pieces, both in fancy and round shape white, as well a major uptrend towards natural fancy color diamonds. Being able to showcase and ultimately sell some of the most sought after stones in the world, as well having access to the natural beauty of Argyle pink diamonds (with an unbroken chain of custody coming from our cutter), helped position our company atop the forefront in design offerings this season.
As we know watches and bridal certainly dominated headlines this pandemic year, so it takes incredible retailers and sales professionals getting their customers into their doors and then of course presenting merchandise at the interaction which gives the consumer reason to buy at every trunk show in every city we went to.
Understanding The Consumer Walking in the Door
Another great humbling moment to implement when behind the counter is to know and recognize the importance of the consumer actually walking into the store.
Immediately take note of their body language. Observe if hands are crossed, in pockets, or out and moving. Shoulder height (up high means they are nervous to be in a store whether its price or affordability or comfort and down low means they are on a mission and intent on being given an experience).
Jewelry Wearing—you can tell a lot about the consumer’s purchasing mentality with what they currently are wearing. Attitude and so forth—all psychological type observations. A metaphor describing the fortunate opportunity to interact with each consumer—the same consumer paid top dollar to sit front row center for that Broadway performance, and no matter if it is the lead actor’s 700th performance or 1st, that clientele is expecting a 10/10 performance as if it were the lead actor’s first time on stage.
Same holds true for us at each trunk show with each clientele walking in. No matter if the clientele is spending a few hundred dollars or multiple thousands, they paid top dollar (metaphor) to come into the store and certainly want an experience. We give them an experience and performance as if this was the first time we are on stage performing at that Broadway production.
We are all actors, just in different mediums. As there are many choices for consumers to purchase jewelry, we understand how fortunate we are to have anyone walk through those doors into a retail jewelry environment (jewelry is a want or desire, not a need).
“This is so beautiful,” or “These are G VS diamonds,” or “buy this and you will be noticed,” are definitely not the way to romance customers while at trunk shows. They would not be at the store for the most part if they thought the designer was offering diamonds that are not bright or not beautiful, etc. They do not need to be told how beautiful they look, rather how this jewelry can be worn within their lifestyle and also seen as a generational purchase. This is the heartfelt way in which we romance behind the counter, never selling, rather giving an experience to each and every client walking through those doors of true romance, and we mean it.
We never pressure and will even tell the consumer if you are not 100% confident with the purchase, to think about it, sleep on it (if we are doing a two-day show) and if it is something that keeps you awake that evening or you can’t live without, then consider coming back to see us for purchasing.
The sale is made within the first few minutes of interacting. We need to be reminded of this constantly and humbly perform like at a Broadway actor’s first live performance at every trunk show and every interaction at the trunk show, in order to capture the clientele’s confidence.
The generational factor plays a major role, thus you need to offer a product that will withstand the test of time as mentioned, fiscally, intrinsically, and aesthetically. Perform from the heart in every interaction and you will see how easy and natural it becomes to successfully romance jewelry ensembles.
Also start high when showing. You can always go down in your offerings with regards to price. Whereas if you start low. it is very hard to go up from that level.Getting Them in the Door
In addition to the product and the presentation, other ways to get consumers in the door is through targeted marketing initiatives.
We provide invitations depicting the multiple collections we bring to the event. Hand-written letters to the store’s customers are furnished that the sales professionals can send directly to their clients (approved by the owners, of course). Eblasts, social media advertising and many other initiatives are also important elements.
We never discount products so as to just make a sale. Rather we offer value-added incentives during the event, such as add-on sales consideration; specialty jewelry work and design at no charge; lifetime guarantee with our products the second they leave the retailers showroom; and many other romanceable ingredients at the meeting with the customer.
Next week, Part III covers Charles and Brian's Outlook for 2021.