Articles and News
How One Tech-Savvy Jeweler Makes The Most of Digital Media Without A Website | June 18, 2014 (0 comments)
Aspen, CO--These days, one rarely runs into a jeweler who has no website. Usually that jeweler would be dismissed as hopelessly out of touch--or possibly even a candidate for retirement. But when a jeweler is tech-savvy enough to invent an app, and does most of her advertising on social media but still doesn't have a website as a matter of strategy, that's another story.
Aspen jeweler Kathryn Penn of Kathryn Penn Fine Jewelry is this contradiction. She uses Facebook to connect with her customers and share her wares--and she does just fine. And she has an app in development. Clearly, Penn is not your typical jeweler.
"I started differently than most. I've had my store for the last five years. Before that, I worked for other jewelers in Aspen. I started selling at the Saturday market in Aspen, sort of a farmer's market for crafters. I made my own jewelry, beads, pearls and different creations. I built my clientele on the street."
Penn has a nice following, and not just in Aspen. "Many of my customers have second homes here in Aspen. I'm often invited to come where my customers live during the off-season to do trunk shows. Adding that [is what] turned my business into a year around business. I opened a store and here I am five years later, with my own space on Cooper Avenue in Aspen. A homemade business." Penn still does three or four trunk shows a year in different areas. Her regular route includes Ohio, Texas, and Washington D.C. and Miami in the summer.
Penn's store is small. Really small. It's just 357 square feet and she pays a high rent in tourist-rich Aspen. "In Aspen, it's a dream to have the smallest space in the best location," she says, acknowledging that she does. Her shop features a comfortable atmosphere, and her canine ambassador, Muppet, who of course is a customer favorite.
Penn's first week in her store was amazing. "It was gratifying that people liked what I was doing and supported me in it. The first week I was open, people said, 'I want to be your first customer.' They spent money to support me. People here are like that. That's the gratification of my business."
The interior of Kathryn Penn's tiny store. At top of page, the jeweler and her dog, Muppet.
Penn's retail philosophy is simple. "My business is a place where people to come and hang out and talk and see Muppet. And incidentally they buy jewelry." Penn still creates and sells jewelry, along with stocking a number of different vendors. She specifically looks for smaller, non-commercial types of designers not found in chain and department stores.
As a small operation, lack of a website makes sense. Penn's entire staff numbers three, including herself--and one of the others is part-time. With everyone's time at a premium, using Facebook as a selling tool is a smart move, she says. Plus it works.
"I can make changes easily on Facebook," says Penn. She uses Facebook to post inventory and email to send customers photos. She does make sales via Facebook, and fairly often. "I sell through of all my jewelry every season; having website becomes impossible since I'd have to maintain it. On Facebook, my customers see something. If they like it, they buy it. They are impulsive."
Penn stocks fashion fine jewelry in price points ranging from $1,500 to $5,000. She does stock some more expensive pieces and she knows her clientele. "What I find in Aspen is a different customer. There are over 30 jewelry stores in this small town. I find that people like to come in and buy something, and they don't want to spend so much they have to check in with their significant other. Maybe it's great earrings for going out to dinner, or a bracelet or ring. They enjoy wearing my pieces and it works for me. Serious jewelry is not my niche."
For media outreach, Penn has experimented in most everything: local magazines, newspapers and social media. She uses a bit of it all to reach her customers, certainly including Facebook. She posts updates and advertises there when there is new merchandise. She keeps her costs low and page views high. She also uses Instagram and Pinterest.
Being in a seasonal tourist destination has its own interesting schedule. Despite its renown as a ski resort, Penn says summer is busier in Aspen than winter is. “We get lots of Christmas visitors and Spring Break people. We're closed from April 20 for five weeks through May; no one is here. Then summer kicks off. Food & Wine magazine presents the ten best chefs, and there are events all summer long. July and August are the busiest months of year. We get a good amount of visitors in September because fall is so beautiful. The leaves change in September, making Aspen a gorgeous golden mountainside. The weather is great through the middle of October. We are closed the first week in October until Thanksgiving."
Another view of the interior.
While Penn loves her jewelry, she also loves living in Aspen. "My priorities are hiking, biking, and snowboarding. It's nice to be here when the crowds are not. I enjoy where I live. It's a beautiful place. I've lived here for 22 years; it's definitely home."
Penn's background is varied. "I've done a bit of everything, which is pretty typical of people who move to mountains. I moved to Breckenridge, CO, when I was 21, after college at Virginia Tech. I grew up in England and moved to Washington, DC, in high school. For work, I've done everything from restaurant work to advertising, to Internet, selling products, and a TV show. A bit of everything," she says.
As it turns out, Penn is a serial entrepreneur, which ties in nicely with her varied background. Along with her jewelry business, Penn has developed an app that's in development right now, called Doing Fine.
She hopes the app will be big; it certainly serves a need. It came about when a friend, who was 57 and lived alone, couldn't decide whether to go to the emergency room or not when she wasn't feeling well. "When I spoke with her the next day, she jokingly told me that it could be weeks before they might find her rotting body," said Penn.
Penn, who has a good number of friends who live alone, thought, "There should be an app for that." So she set about creating one. Her app has two modes. "For instance, if I don't check-in with the app each morning, within a time window that I set, then two of my friends would get a text. It might say something like 'Check in, something may be wrong with Kathryn.' It's a great app for older parents to let their kids or loved ones know that they are OK -- or 'doing fine.'" Hence the app's title.
In the app's other mode, a person checks in and it sends a text to someone to let them know that person is 'doing fine.' "It would be great for college kids who want to let their parents know they are, in fact, doing fine, but don't want to have to tell them where they are or what they are doing. It could send a text like "Love you, Mom," or something similar," says Penn. The app is currently in beta testing. Penn expects it to launch later this year as a subscription service.
Penn admits to having 15 different things going on in her head at the same time, along with running her jewelry store and authoring an app. Her entrepreneurial spirit is going strong and jewelry may not be her last stop, although jewelry clearly one of her great loves.