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FROM HARRY WINSTON TO HOME SHOPPING NETWORK: UNDERSTANDING LUXURY AT ALL LEVELS | October 10, 2012 (0 comments)
New York, NY—If there’s one woman who knows what makes all kinds of luxury customers tick, it’s Carol Brodie, Home Shopping Network’s self-proclaimed Luxury Goddess.
Brodie comes by her title honestly, however. Prior to launching her “Rarities” collection of affordable luxury jewelry for the Florida-based TV shopping network, Brodie was already well-versed in the jewelry industry, with stints in public relations at Harry Winston, the Diamond Information Center, and Goldstein Communications. Having worked to promote so much luxury—combined with an eye for design—led her to believe she could create a successful line of jewelry that would bring luxurious elements to a more mass audience.
The Centurion caught up with Brodie this week, on the eve of the launch of her new line of home accessories—all of which, of course, reference her love of fine jewelry. We asked her to talk about her experiences with different kinds of luxury customers.
The Centurion: Can you tell us what it’s like to go from Harry Winston to HSN? What similarities and differences do you see in the customers?
Carol Brodie: “I have a very different view now than I used to. I’m not working with the 1%. HSN is not the same customer as high luxury—but my HSN customers love style and they’re very discriminating. That’s what they have in common with high luxury customers. They’re very educated and they insist on quality. All that’s different is their budget.
Carol Brodie
Centurion: What about selling luxury? What’s different or the same?
Brodie: Luxury brands command money because they tell a story. Hermes’ story is about exclusivity. I tell a story about each piece [of Rarities]; what inspired me, and how the product will look and feel. The customers can hear my story directly [on television].
Customers feel empowered by luxury brands, like they’re part of an elite club. They want to form a relationship with it. But they can’t really form a relationship with a luxury brand’s designer. They might have a relationship with the salesperson in the store, but here they have a relationship with me. They interact with me on social media and we have a relationship and a two-way conversation, not one-way advertising.
Basketweave leather satchel and wallet with Evil Eye talisman on wallet, from Brodie's new accessories line, $448
Centurion: Where do you see the future of luxury?
Brodie: Luxury brands are becoming a commodity. I fear for the whole concept of luxury retail shopping in America, because customers can just Google a brand and go find the lowest price. If you know the hidden pages [online] you can get that $3,000 bag off-price. Even for my own parties, I don’t spend $3,000 on a dress because I know I can get it for $800 online a few months later. Plus today people are spending a lot less money on luxury ‘stuff’ and a lot more on luxury experiences.
Centurion: Hidden pages?
Brodie: Not so hidden. Net-a-Porter, Gilt, Outnet, and so on.
Centurion: Ouch. Where does that leave luxury jewelers?
Brodie: They’ll be fine. Jewelry isn’t a commodity, and it’s one item, like a luxury automobile, that you want to see and try in person. You want to feel it and put it on. And luxury jewelers have the relationships with customers that are so important. Now, realize I’m talking about non-branded goods or store-branded goods, not the big designer brands you can Google and price shop. I’m talking about your own lines. That’s where you own the customer—when they can’t go to the Google bar. They see your product, dream about it, have to have it—and they have to get it from you, whom they have a relationship with.
Centurion: Do you see a continuation of the trend for mixing high and low?
Brodie: Absolutely. Unless you’re the .0001% who only insists on the very, very best of everything—and even they want cheap chic sometimes. A Bergdorf or Barney’s shopper will mix my pieces in with her $20,000 pieces. I’m not going to stay it’s the same materials—well, the silver is, but not 18k gold. But she’ll wear it all together, with her J. Mendel fur and a pair of jeans.
Lemon quartz and white quartz ring in sterling silver, $99.90 during special event on HSN.
Centurion: There was a time when TV shopping was the boogeyman for jewelers—till the Internet took over that role.
Brodie: The local jeweler is my best friend! I always send customers to their local jeweler if they need servicing or repair.
Centurion: You launched your line in the middle of 2009—the worst recession since the Depression. How is that?
Brodie: If you get weak in fear of the market, you won’t survive the market. I came to the table with a different mentality. I said ‘people want to cut back, but they don’t want to stop shopping.’ The high-end shopper didn’t go away, they’re just looking for a great value.
Centurion: What can luxury jewelers do to stay relevant to the next generation?
Brodie: I’d hate to be the person who has to develop luxury products for the next generation. But I think technology is going to play a huge role in luxury, and jewelers need to embrace it. I mean really use it. Every luxury brand mines its own archives and then maybe digitizes it a little—that’s not what I mean. I mean technology and luxury have to be best friends. For example, recreate a trunk show digitally. Yes, the designer still has to get on a plane—it’s that relationship—but maybe only bring a dozen pieces, not 300—and with CAD you can create a drawing of a custom piece for each customer in less than 30 minutes.
Centurion: Tell us about your new lines of home and fashion accessories?
Brodie: Because of my background in fine jewelry, I gravitate toward things that sparkle. What’s more beautiful than jewelry for the home? It all started with candles and diffusers. I had five scent blended so each has a different top note. The candleholders are jeweled, my leather handbags have sparkling python accents, and everything has a jeweled talisman—an evil eye—on it. My sunglasses are 100% UVA/UVB protection and they have an evil eye on the temples.
I used to talk about the Four C’s of diamonds; now I talk about the 3 M’s of luxury: meaning, moment, and memory.
Candle, $29.95, and sunglasses, $39.90, both with bejeweled evil eye talisman. Top of page: Blue topaz and sterling silver ring with peridot, chrome diopside and white topaz, $359.90