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The Luxury Independent Family Jeweler: Preserving An Institution, Part One | May 21, 2014 (0 comments)
Skillman, NJ—Family-owned jewelers of the United States inspire confidence in consumers in choosing where to spend hard-earned disposable income. Amid an environment of retail self-service, jewelers offer personal attention. As many retailers offer anonymous sales assistance, the jeweler knows his customers by name and keeps track of special family occasions. When the time comes for a major purchase, the consumer makes his selection with confidence in the quality and authenticity of the stone, watch or jewelry item being recommended, which confirms a high level of trust in the purveyor.
Such positive and well-earned consumer/retailer connections are precious and worth passing along to the next generation. However, increasing numbers of long-standing, family-owned jewelry stores (and stores in other product categories) are closing because “things are different” today than in the past. Competition for consumer dollars has intensified and diversified. Web commerce drives home convenience, selection and the capability of easy price comparison to consumers. Large chain jewelers in shopping malls are ubiquitous and offer sharp prices and the power of mass media, which entices potential new customers. Unfortunately, many retailers spend too much time lamenting these conditions rather than adjusting to them. It is vital for independent retailers to remain current in order to flourish.
This article will begin a four-part series that will suggest a few ideas to keep independent jewelry stores vibrant, and, possibly, help to break some long-held myths and paradigms about strategies that once drove business which have now grown tired. The first of these four topics will be addressed here and the next three will appear in The Centurion Newsletter sequentially in the coming weeks:
- The Store: Make it Special, Take it Social
- Your Inventory: Falling In and Out of Love
- Merchandising and Staff: The Who, What and Where
- Marketing: Challenging the Status Quo
The Store: Make it Special, Take it Social
Successful retailers understand that their stores are not simply destination s for consumers to find certain brands, buy for special occasions or find the best price. Retailers today must create a warm and welcoming atmosphere, a sense of “retail theatre”, and support causes about which matter to their clients. Here are some ideas that can help to “make it special” and build loyalty:
Respect the audience by supporting a local charity. Instead of giving a few dollars to many causes; make a consistent and visible commitment to one or two that are important to your best clients. It is a good idea to choose charities having strong leadership, so that joint events or marketing initiatives can be executed professionally. Local charities that, for example, sponsor animals, children or women’s causes are very relevant, as everyone supports these causes. Choosing a good local charity, over a large national one, allows easier management of the partnership. Once the charitable relationship matures, creative ideas such as shopping events to benefit the charity work well by:
- Inviting local vendors who might donate food and beverages in exchange for the publicity.
- Layering several attractions onto events such as vendor appearances, a special promotion on a popular brand, a fun demonstration (food preparation, live craftsmanship of an artisan etc.), the introduction of a new collection or brand, a drawing or contest or other creative idea can help to ensure good traffic.
- The charity chairperson would rally donors to attend and support the event in order to create a win/win. A percentage of the day’s sales would be donated to the charity.
Engage the audience; use a client book system. Train salespeople to become friendly enough with clients to discreetly discover information about items they covet in the store and link this to the dates of their special occasions and primary gift-givers. For instance, in conversation a sales associate finds out that Mary Jones wants a pair of one-carat diamond earrings. Follow this up by asking her the dates of her special occasions and whether she would like her husband to be “reminded” about this wish just prior to that date. This type of intelligence becomes the vital in building a client data base and provides a service to gift givers and a catalyst for receivers, usually ladies, to fulfill their desires for jewelry. Diligence in this realm pays accumulating dividends and will help your store stand out among others. Once created, client books also provide plenty of reasons to send hand-written cards to customers, which always impress.
Set the stage in the store windows. Particularly for stores whose windows are exposed to foot traffic, the visual impression created here speaks volumes about that which waits inside. Creating themes, celebrating seasons & holidays, introducing new brands, publicizing events or simply having fun with interesting props, colors and materials send a strong message about a retail environment that is always evolving, or not. Since the consumer base of any store is largely static and walks by the front windows often, the visual message must constantly change. Of course, this commitment to evolving visuals takes diligence and creativity which may need to be contracted from outside the store.
Hire the best actors. I was told by a respected former boss to look for two traits when hiring any new employee: empathy and the ability to learn. The ability to walk in the shoes of the client and learn new product knowledge and selling techniques are clearly important to any successful sales associate. Add to that an engaging personality, positive outlook and sense of subtle perseverance in pursuing the sale, and you have the right tools upon which to build. Sales associates function as the front-line representatives and first impression of the business. Retaining ones with the right attitude, intelligence level, sense of urgency and willingness to constantly learn and improve will take your business to the next stage. Sales clerks who know only how to ring up sales and ask “Can I help you?” will take sales results in the wrong direction. We will talk more about selling skills and training later in the series, but hiring “coachable” staff is a great start.
Now that we are sure the store is a special place to shop, let’s shout it from the rooftops and “take it social”. Many jewelers reading this article are already active on social media; many are very good at it, too! Under any conditions, despite the tremendous benefit that may be derived from social media, we understand two sobering facts: 1) social media is time consuming, 2) there are many outlets and choosing the right one(s) can be daunting. As tempting as it may be to deliver the message of the store on multiple channels, many stores will have a difficult time managing them. Therefore, this article will focus on Facebook due to its size (500 million users) and universality of audience.
In order to avoid losing focus and to use social media time and resources effectively, I suggest a simple “Facebook Recipe” that will create a sustainable structure to apply to this ongoing task. Please consider these steps:
- Open a business FB page using the name of your store: This is important, as a business rather than personal page will allow access to KPI metrics which will inform you about the progress of your posting & promotional strategy.
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Posting tips:
- Fun posts: I have linked the notion of creating specialness in you store with social media because the events, new items, celebrations, customer interactions and other fun topics can become the grist of your posting strategy. It is best to be very casual, personal and not-too-serious in the items you discuss as you project a welcoming attitude of friendliness and spontaneity to your customers. For example: Host a Super Bowl party in the store and photograph all the guys drinking beer (as the ladies shop) and post it on FB the following Monday. Post in this fashion three or four times per week.
- Selling posts: After each four or five “fun” posts, include a sales-oriented post which announces a new product, promotion, contest, sale or some commercial initiative that you want publicize. Accompany this post with some relatively inexpensive Facebook advertising, which will drive consumers to your page to see the latest post. But, wait a minute….How does FB advertising get this done?
- How Facebook ads work: You can target the message of the ad toward Facebook Profile information that includes interests which coincide with the message. Depending on the goal of the ad, targeting filters can be set to select which group of people will see the ad. For instance, someone who has identified himself as a watch collector would get your Facebook ad about adding a new watch brand to your assortment. Also, if someone “Likes” a posting about a certain brand of jewelry, this information will add personal data onto ones FB profile which will appear as the targeting filter does its work. Note: Google advertising uses search behavior (the words you type into your browser) to target its advertising. This is a different approach that is also effective. Pull up www.socialadstool.com for much more information. This site will talk about ad optimization, avoiding ad exhaustion as well as some concrete ideas about keeping your campaign vibrant.
- Where do I find the time? That is the catch. Executing a Facebook strategy (to say nothing of a full-blown web strategy) does take at least six to eight hours per week. Busy store owners often do not have that much available extra time. One obvious option is to hire a part-time college student who will likely be conversant in the digital world. Late spring is the perfect time to find one. Another option is to assign the task to an existing employee who wants more responsibility and has a good sense of how to create engaging posts. The third option is to hire a web marketing company to act as community manager, but that will come at a higher price. In the end, each store owner must assess the value of social media and commit to it, or not. This writer’s advice would be to start with one network, track the results and move forward based upon the metrics. The tactics will work if diligently applied.
Michael Belleveau is president of MJB Solutions, LLC, a business development company for wholesale and retail consumer products companies specializing in jewelry, watch, tabletop and decorative trade channels. 7 Spyglass Road, Skillman NJ 08558. (917) 375-1469 michael@mjbsolutions.net, http://www.mjbsolutions.net