Sales Strategy

Jeweler Uses Five-Carat Diamond As Gee-Whiz Selling Tool December 16, 2020 (0 comments)

Vicksburg, MS—Buying diamonds off the street is not only a good way to turn a profit for jewelers, it can also be a good way to stretch your marketing dollars, help your sales associates break the ice with customers, and potentially nudge them to a higher ticket purchase.

Matt Southerland, owner of Magnolia Jewelers in Mississippi, recently made local news with a five-carat diamond ring worth more than $100,000 that he’s keeping in the store for customers to come try on just for fun. 

If it sounds like very expensive fun—or equally expensive marketing—never fear. Southerland ultimately does have a customer in mind for the ring, although he told the Vicksburg Post that customer is in no hurry to buy it. And he’s in no hurry to sell it, either, he told the article’s author, Terri Cowart Frazier. 

“I can keep it in the store and show people and keep it as a talking point for me,” he told Frazier.

Although the ring (above) came from an estate sale, the stone is a modern round brilliant mounted in wide yellow gold setting. From the style of mounting, Southerland guesses it was originally purchased in the early 1990s. The paper did not say how much he paid for it, but if the feature article is any indication, it looks like the expense was well-spent in name-exposure value. Image: Vicksburg Post

Meanwhile, as another way to engage the local community, jeweler also is hosting a gingerbread-house contest on social media for Christmas.