While at the Atlanta Jewelry Show a few weeks ago, like always, I try to find the cool new things that have come on the market. Here are a few of the cool new products that I think everyone needs to know about.
GemLightbox Pro
If one was to jump into the ‘way back machine’, you’d find that I was one of the first people in the industry to begin posting online videos of jewelry on a rotating turntable. Now mind you, this was before YouTube and social media and it was a very laborious task! Since then, the process has gotten much easier, and most retailers and wholesalers post videos routinely. But GemLightbox Pro just took this whole process to a new level.
GemLightbox Pro combines a professional lightbox, rotating turntables in the base of the unit as well as the top to take videos of pendants. It also includes a special stand to hold your smart phone in the correct position to capture the photo or video. But, here’s the kicker – you download their app to your phone, and when you’re ready to record, you just hit the button and it automatically starts the turntable and the video at the same time. But wait – there’s more.
GemLightbox Pro also incorporates Artificial Intelligence technology that automatically writes a creative description of the piece that you are photographing. We’ve all struggled with writing colorful descriptions of the pieces we post online. We all say things like; ‘inspired by nature’ while trying to find something clever that we haven’t already used 1,000 times before. I’ve never been sold on AI technology until now. But wait – there’s more.
When we take still photos of jewelry, we seldom get them perfect after a dozen or more takes. We’ll pick the one that needs the least amount of touch-up, and take it over to Photoshop to clean up the shadows and other imperfections. GemLightbox Pro has a built in automatic photo editor. You just pick the photo you like best, hit the photo editor button, and a few seconds later your picture looks like you hired a professional to touch up your photo.
GemLightbox Pro is the most advanced, and complete jewelry photography/video capture system I’ve ever seen. It basically rolls all of the various tasks involved into one simple to use app and lightbox and can have your jewelry ‘online ready’ in less than a minute. Check them out at GemLightbox.com or email Gabriella@picupmedia.com.
Gem + Jewel
Speaking of being ‘online ready’, here’s another cool discovery I made at the Atlanta Jewelry Show.
I always wished I had the skill to have a successful, and profitable, online presence and store. Some people have a natural gift for such things. Myself, and many of you out there, just don’t have the right genes to make it work as well as we’d like. Well, that just changed.
Gem + Jewel have that talent, and they are ready to share it with you. A little over a year ago, Jewelers Mutual Insurance partnered with the company and has now rolled it into their Zing Platform.
What if you don’t already have a strong online presence? What if you don’t have a lot of inventory to put in your online store? What if you’re a custom jeweler that makes your own line of jewelry? What if you just don’t have the time to dedicate to the whole internet thing? Here is a quote from Zing;
Gem + Jewel is a one-of-a-kind e-comm platform that connects retailers and vendors to work together as partners, not competitors.
For Retailers – Get a turnkey online store with access to our network of virtual vendor inventory and lab-grown diamond marketplace to expand your assortment and reach more customers.
For Brands – Create a stylish, professional brand page to grow your brand exposure with both retailers and consumers. And get access to the global lab-grown diamond market to reduce supply chain costs and inefficiencies.
Gem + Jewel already have the vendors and suppliers ready to go. They will create and maintain your online store using multiple vendors that they have already partnered with. They handle the e-commerce side, and they handle the drop shipping to your customer. All of this, if you are a Jeweler’s Mutual policy holder, for $69 per month.
In a nutshell, they will create, maintain, promote, and manage your online store, even if you have no inventory of your own, or no website. All you have to do is sign up and they handle the rest. Pretty cool if you ask me.
So now, with these two cool finds, you can take photos and videos of your inventory, complete with creative descriptions, send them to Gem + Jewel, who then will upload them to your online store. Contact Sheila Bayes through the Zing platform, or at sbayes@jminsure.com.
Luxsurance by Jewelers Mutual
Think about this for a second. You sell a young man, who’s never bought expensive jewelry before, a $10,000 diamond engagement ring. He lives in an apartment with the furniture he’s had since college. He has no need for homeowner’s or renter’s insurance. And yet, here he goes, right out your front door, with the most expensive thing he’s ever owned, with zero insurance coverage. Of course, we give him the documentation to acquire insurance, and maybe even a recommendation or two, but when he leaves your store, he still leaves with zero insurance coverage.
But what if I told you there was a new program from Jewelers Mutual that covers your customer’s new purchase with a 15-day Insurance Offer at no cost? Here’s an excerpt from their website:
The LUX Digital Vault – developed using the cloud-based Luxsurance® platform that Jewelers Mutual acquired earlier this year – comes with a special 15-day jewelry insurance offer so customers can keep their new jewelry protected while evaluating their insurance needs, with no up-front payment required.
Pretty cool, huh? You’ll need to contact your Jewelers Mutual rep to get all of the details, but here are the high points I think you should know. First off, you need to have a Point-of-Sale system that supports Luxsurance, such as The Edge or Jewelmate, but most of the Jewelry POS systems that we all use support this program now. Upon signing up for the program, you’ll need to update to the latest version which will include this functionality.
Once you complete the sale, your customer will receive a text with a link to the Luxsurance app to download to their phone. All of the information about the sale, which is already in your system, will then be uploaded to their LUX Digital Vault. At that point, your client can activate 15-day coverage protected by Jewelers Mutual before they even pull out of your parking lot.
Because this program is so new, it’s only offered to retailers that use one of the supported POS systems. But, in 2024, they do have plans to roll this program out to the rest of the industry. What I like the most is that you connect your customer with insurance right at the point of sale. Then, they have about two weeks to either continue the coverage or move it somewhere else. But letting these young men leave your store with the most expensive thing they’ve ever purchased on their own, fully insured is a real game changer. For more details, contact Luxsurance at sales@jminsure.com or your Jewelers Mutual Rep.
And, just to keep everyone updated, I’ve installed the floor trim, I’ve painted the front door, and I’m about 90% finished with the new countertops in main shop area. Whoop Whoop!
