Articles and News
Industry News: Consolidation Continues, Plus More From JBT, GIA, JA, Silver Promotion Service; NAJA May 04, 2016 (0 comments)
JBT: Industry Consolidation Accelerates; Expands Business Intelligence Services; Launches New Prime Marketing Lists
Warwick, RI—The Jewelers Board of Trade (JBT) announces more targeted identification of jewelry market segments, adding demographic attributes to its suite of marketing lists and custom research products.
Already the industry’s leader for mailing and marketing data sorted by geography, business type, and credit ratings, JBT can now layer in deeper filtering (based on U.S. Census data) for members to more accurately and economically reach existing and potential customer segments throughout the jewelry industry in North America.
“One of JBT’s core value propositions is leveraging our data to help members successfully find and serve new markets,” said Anthony Capuano, JBT’s President. “We created our new Prime Marketing list capabilities by marrying census data with our own industry data. The result is a better tool for more precisely reaching a focused population of customers and prospects. We also want to take this opportunity to remind the industry and our membership of our growing ability to provide customized data. Members call us every day for this kind of assistance, and we are pleased to be able to enhance our ability to meet these needs.”
JBT’s new capabilities include filtering by consumer ethnic designations, age groups, and income levels, as well as its traditional criteria and ordering options.
Separately, quarterly data from JBT shows the industry continues to consolidate on all levels. A total of 335 jewelry businesses—retailers, manufacturers, and wholesalers—closed in the first quarter of 2016, a 34% increase over the first quarter of 2015. The same factors that have been driving consolidation for the past few years—Boomer retirements, more shopping choices, and tighter consumer budgets—continue to impact the industry and will for the foreseeable future, says JBT. Read more here.
For more information on Prime Marketing Lists or any of JBT’s products and services, please call JBT at 401-467-0055, ext. 3703, visit www.jewelersboard.com, or email info@jewelersboard.com.
Silver Promotion Service Expands Savor Silver Program
New York, NY—The Silver Promotion Service (SPS) introduces a new merchandise category in the Savor Silver Program, called Silver Style Partners. The inaugural participants are Belle Étoile, Geoffrey Scott, Joryel Vera, LJD, Martha Seely, Stephen Dweck, and Sterling Silver from Taxco.
Contessa earrings by Belle Étoile
Partners selected to participate in the program will benefit from multiple marketing opportunities: use of the Silver Mark in communications and at trade shows, participation in the mobile responsive website www.savorsilver.com, the opportunity to advertise in cost efficient trade media programs, and the potential to exhibit with other Savor Silver participants at select trade shows.
SPS director Michael C. Barlerin said, “The addition of the ‘Silver Style Partners’ designation reflects the growth and increasing diversity of silver jewelry design. Whether textured, blended with other metals, or incorporating stones, the role of silver continues to grow. The ‘Silver Style Partners’ designation will both build upon and leverage the visibility of the two current Savor Silver merchandise categories, ‘Designers of Distinction’ and ‘Silver Mark Partners’.
The Silver Promotion Service was introduced in 2008 by the Silver Institute to develop and implement programs designed to enhance the image of and stimulate demand for silver jewelry in major international markets. For more information on the SPS please visit www.savorsilver.com.
GIA Career Fair Returns To New York In July
Carlsbad, CA—GIA’s Annual New York Career Fair will be held Monday, July 25 at the Jacob Javits Convention Center. Dozens of gem and jewelry companies will be looking to hire skilled and motivated professionals at every career stage. Last year’s event attracted more than 600 job seekers to meet with recruiters from 48 companies.
The event begins with a panel discussion. Susan Jacques, president and CEO of GIA, will moderate “Job Success in Today’s Market.” The panel of industry leaders will include Rahul Kadakia, international head of jewelry for Christie’s; Steven Lagos, founder and chief creative director for LAGOS; Natalie Tjaden of Jewelry Television; and Yancy Weinrich, senior vice president of JCK.
Designer and brand mogul Steven Lagos will speak at GIA's New York Career Fair.
The free, open-to-the-public recruiting and education event also features one-on-one career coaching with some of the industry’s top leaders.
Click here for more information.
JA Fights for Jewelers on Capitol Hill; Tax Fairness and Synthetic Diamonds Key Topics
New York, NY—Jewelers of America (JA) has ramped up advocacy efforts in Washington, D.C. Recent activities include meetings with Congressional leaders to support the jewelry industry’s recommendations to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on its proposed changes to the Guides for the Jewelry, Precious Metals, and Pewter Industries. The association also held a dinner April 12 to celebrate its work in legislative affairs, and is planning a two-day fly-in June 14-15, its sixth annual advocacy trip bringing a delegation of jewelers to Capitol Hill.
On Thursday, April 14, JA’s Washington, DC-based legislative counsel, Haake Fetzer, organized several meetings for JA president & CEO David J. Bonaparte with representatives on House and Senate Committees that oversee the FTC. Bonaparte met with Rep. John Shimkus, a senior member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee; and key staff from the office of Sen. Jerry Moran, chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee’s Consumer Protection and Product Safety Subcommittee.
Bonaparte’s meetings focused on the FTC’s proposal to allow synthetic diamond producers to use the term “cultured” to describe synthetic diamonds, as long as qualifying language (for example “laboratory-created,” “laboratory-grown,” “synthetic”) immediately accompanies the term. JA’s position is that use of the term “cultured” is confusing, since consumers believe the word “cultured” means or implies “natural.”
“Use of the word ‘cultured’ in conjunction with a manufactured diamond is deceptive,” Bonaparte says. “It implies that synthetic diamonds are created in a natural environment, similar to cultured pearls.”
JA’s position and the meetings reinforce the stance taken by an industry coalition—led by the Jewelers Vigilance Committee—that is gathering important research and sharing industry input with the FTC. JA is actively involved in the coalition.
“Jewelers of America’s work advocating on Capitol Hill on behalf of our members and the jewelry industry is critical to the future of our industry, whether it’s supporting measures that will help jewelers, or fighting to block laws that can hurt them,” says Bonaparte.
JA Political Action Committee (JAPAC) chair Jenny Caro, owner of Jewelry By Design in Woodbridge, VA, says a lot is at stake for jewelers in the 2016 elections, with battles on issues like sales tax fairness, protection of the LIFO (last in, first out) accounting method, and the possibility of tax reform on the horizon. “Decisions these lawmakers make will have a huge impact on our businesses and on our industry, today and long into the future,” she says.
For more information about the legislative and regulatory issues Jewelers of America is tracking, visit JA’s Advocacy Center at www.jewelers.org.
NAJA Announces Mid-Year Conference in California
Rego Park, NY—The National Association of Jewelry Appraisers (NAJA) announces its 46th Annual Mid Year “ACE It” Education Conference will be held August 13-16 in Newport Beach, CA. Daily programs are:
- Saturday, August 13: Muzo Emeralds: Gemology, Mining and a Future Perspective, The Challenges of Creating a Gemstone Brand, How To Identify A Luxury Counterfeit Watch, and The Old Euro Revisited.
- Sunday, August 14: Treatments and Synthetics: A Visual Review, Digital Photomicrography for Gemologists, Evaluations in a Millennial World, and Bird on a Rock: An Insider's Guide to Preparing a Blue Box Appraisal.
- Monday, August 15: Training Your Eye, Appraiser Challenges of a Lifetime, The 1950s and 1960s: Change and Innovation: A Jewel for Every Taste, and Every Person, Into the Depths of French Hallmarking: Come Out Singing La Marseillaise!
- Tuesday, August 16: Appraising - From the Essentials into the Nonsense, The Appraisal Challenge - How Will Yours Hold Up? and Conflict Management: Tales from the Dark Side.
To see a full conference brochure, click here or for further information contact Gail Brett Levine, GG, executive director, (718) 896-1536, naja.appraisers@netzero.net, www.NAJAappraisers.com.