Southern Jewelry News
  • Featured
    • All
    • Featured
    • Featured Retailers
    • Retailer Roundtable
    • Sponsored Content
    • Supplier Spotlight
    Quality Gold previews new HERCO products at JCK Las Vegas
    The Story Behind the Stone: Ancient Provenance
    King Jewelers staying in the ‘loupe’ since 1912
    The Story Behind the Stone: Ancient Provenance
    Sell jewelry the way you cook
    Pretty much perfect retailing for Wyoming couple
    Pretty much perfect retailing for Wyoming couple
  • Latest News
    • All
    • COVID-19
    • Furry Friends
    • Industry Awards
    • Industry Events
    • NRF
    • On The Move
    • Other News
    • Tradeshow News
    • Video
    • What's New
    Sunstone releases the Orion PJ
    The importance of consistently clienteling
    2023 COUTURE Design Awards winners announced
    HardRock Summit returns to Denver in September
  • Podcast
    How Star Gem Inc. Defines Jewelry Innovation
    Episode 33 – Anish Desai, Beyond Trends: How Star Gem Inc. Defines Jewelry Innovation 
    Inspiring Tales of Mentorship and Growth
    Episode 32 – Matthew Gross, Inspiring Tales of Mentorship and Growth 
    Behind the Success of running a jewelry trade shop
    Episode 31 – Ross Wesdorp, Behind the Success of Running a Jewelry Trade Shop
    Downsizing positioned Butler Diamonds for success
    Episode 30 – Doris Butler, Downsizing positioned Butler Diamonds for success
    Inside the United Precious Metal Refining
    Episode 29 – David Siminski, Inside the United Precious Metal Refining
    Episode 28 – John Bruggemann, Secure Your Financial Future by Diversifying
    Episode 28 – John Bruggemann, Secure Your Financial Future by Diversifying
    Darling of the Industry Konrad Darling of Darling Imports
    Episode 27 – The Darling of the Industry: Konrad Darling of Darling Imports
    Success in Jewelry and Writing
    Episode 26 – Success in Jewelry and Writing. Chuck Koehler of Anthony Jewelers
    Permanent Jewelry How Sunstone is Changing the Game
    Episode 25 – David Holloway, Permanent Jewelry: How Sunstone is Changing the Game
  • Columnists
    Optimize your jewelry store’s website for better organic traffic – here’s how!
    Image of Chuck Koehler
    The Retailer’s Perspective: Things That Haven’t Changed
    2,000 year old Roman intaglio ring. Photo Fellows Auctioneers
    The Story Behind the Stone: Ancient Provenance
    ChatGPT. Your secret edge?
    Applied Marketing 101: The Next Big Thing
    Applied Marketing 101: The View from Surat
    International School of Gemology Education Series: The Story of Anthill Garnets
    Making decisions work for you
    Making decisions work for you
    3 digital marketing lessons from great jewelry radio ads
  • Classifieds
  • Subscriptions
    • Newsletter Signup
    • Print Subscription
  • Digital Magazine
    • Southern Jewelry News
    • Mid-America Jewelry News
    • Archive
No Result
View All Result
Southern Jewelry News
  • Featured
    • All
    • Featured
    • Featured Retailers
    • Retailer Roundtable
    • Sponsored Content
    • Supplier Spotlight
    Quality Gold previews new HERCO products at JCK Las Vegas
    The Story Behind the Stone: Ancient Provenance
    King Jewelers staying in the ‘loupe’ since 1912
    The Story Behind the Stone: Ancient Provenance
    Sell jewelry the way you cook
    Pretty much perfect retailing for Wyoming couple
    Pretty much perfect retailing for Wyoming couple
  • Latest News
    • All
    • COVID-19
    • Furry Friends
    • Industry Awards
    • Industry Events
    • NRF
    • On The Move
    • Other News
    • Tradeshow News
    • Video
    • What's New
    Sunstone releases the Orion PJ
    The importance of consistently clienteling
    2023 COUTURE Design Awards winners announced
    HardRock Summit returns to Denver in September
  • Podcast
    How Star Gem Inc. Defines Jewelry Innovation
    Episode 33 – Anish Desai, Beyond Trends: How Star Gem Inc. Defines Jewelry Innovation 
    Inspiring Tales of Mentorship and Growth
    Episode 32 – Matthew Gross, Inspiring Tales of Mentorship and Growth 
    Behind the Success of running a jewelry trade shop
    Episode 31 – Ross Wesdorp, Behind the Success of Running a Jewelry Trade Shop
    Downsizing positioned Butler Diamonds for success
    Episode 30 – Doris Butler, Downsizing positioned Butler Diamonds for success
    Inside the United Precious Metal Refining
    Episode 29 – David Siminski, Inside the United Precious Metal Refining
    Episode 28 – John Bruggemann, Secure Your Financial Future by Diversifying
    Episode 28 – John Bruggemann, Secure Your Financial Future by Diversifying
    Darling of the Industry Konrad Darling of Darling Imports
    Episode 27 – The Darling of the Industry: Konrad Darling of Darling Imports
    Success in Jewelry and Writing
    Episode 26 – Success in Jewelry and Writing. Chuck Koehler of Anthony Jewelers
    Permanent Jewelry How Sunstone is Changing the Game
    Episode 25 – David Holloway, Permanent Jewelry: How Sunstone is Changing the Game
  • Columnists
    Optimize your jewelry store’s website for better organic traffic – here’s how!
    Image of Chuck Koehler
    The Retailer’s Perspective: Things That Haven’t Changed
    2,000 year old Roman intaglio ring. Photo Fellows Auctioneers
    The Story Behind the Stone: Ancient Provenance
    ChatGPT. Your secret edge?
    Applied Marketing 101: The Next Big Thing
    Applied Marketing 101: The View from Surat
    International School of Gemology Education Series: The Story of Anthill Garnets
    Making decisions work for you
    Making decisions work for you
    3 digital marketing lessons from great jewelry radio ads
  • Classifieds
  • Subscriptions
    • Newsletter Signup
    • Print Subscription
  • Digital Magazine
    • Southern Jewelry News
    • Mid-America Jewelry News
    • Archive
No Result
View All Result
Southern Jewelry News
No Result
View All Result
Home Columnists

Your key business partners

David Brown by David Brown
June 29, 2012
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
Reading Time: 7 minutes

If you’re a sole trader or a family operated business you may be wondering who I am talking about in the title. After all, you’re the only owner right? That may be true from a legal point of view, but as is commonly referred to today, your business has not only shareholders, but stakeholders – others with a vested interest in whether you succeed or not.

Staff are obviously stakeholders – their income and job security depends on the ability of the business to survive and thrive – but they’re not the only ones. Your community may include stakeholders as well – your landlord is a stakeholder, customers are stakeholders, those who deliver you parcels are stakeholders, the list can be endless.

A jeweler’s success will rise and fall depending on who he works with. Aside from staff and customers the other human resource crucial to a business which is often overlooked by many store owners is the vendor – after all, without him there is no product with which to sell.

Vendor relationships are as varied as are human emotions. Antagonism can often develop caused by either party and it is easy to see your vendor as being on the other side of the fence. Yet despite any differences, you share a strong common bond – you both benefit from seeing more of their product being sold to your customers. From this perspective you can see yourself, less as friendly adversaries and more as united partners.

So how can you make this relationship stronger?

• Make a commitment to your vendor. The more you spend with them the more valuable you become and the more they will do for you in return. You know with your own business that the customers who spend the most with you get the best treatment. If you spend a little each with thirty different suppliers you can’t expect the same treatment as you would if you spend a lot with ten.

• Re-order your fast sellers. This is basic common sense for both you and your vendor. What is the cost of buying a new item in? The wholesale price? No. For you it’s the time you spend looking at the rep’s range, the cost of travelling to trade fairs and the setting up of the item in your computer system along with your staff’s time with display tickets and getting it displayed. For your vendor it’s the design and set up costs and the travel to retailers or trade shows. What is the cost to you both when you reorder that item? Ignoring freight and restocking, the only cost is an e-mail and the price of the goods, and the same is true of your vendor. The profit comes, for both of you, when that item sells a second, third, fourth and fifth time. What’s more, the chances of an item selling again when it has already sold once is four times as great as a brand new item that you’ve just brought in.

• Pay your bills when they are due. Will a vendor show his best stock to the customer who meets his obligations or the one he has to hound for payment? I know what I would do.

So what do you gain from all of this?

A retailer with a strong relationship with a vendor will often find the other party is able to do the following:

• Offer you their best price. Doors open when you commit to a vendor. Like anyone, they can do better deals the more you spend, and it need not be an upfront payment. A promise to reach certain buying targets over an extended period will see you get the best price possible.

• Provide memo inventory. Certain vendors can only provide large quantities of this in a limited capacity, but almost all are able to send you some extra pieces around special promotional periods or to show special customers. Again, the ability to take advantage of this will depend on the level at which they value your business and the extent to which you are prepared to reorder what sells. It is in both your interests to get good sellers back whether they are items you own or have on memo.

• Exchange slow moving inventory. Again it’s in the interests of both of you that old items are moved out to make way for product that can sell several times over. The vendor can often on-sell this to another retailer, however there is no point in asking 18 months after you’ve bought it when the market has changed. This product needs to move on while the vendor can still sell it.

• Exclusivity. You can sometimes find the items you buy can be exclusive to you in your shopping centre or town. You can also get first choice in new items when they are introduced to the range.

• Customer evenings. Your vendors will often provide you with extra product or specials for these events and even attend in-store evenings themselves with their full range of products.

Developing the relationship as a win/win has obvious benefits for both parties. It’s worth spending the time to evaluate how you can do more for the vendors in your business – you may be pleasantly surprised what they will do for you in return.

David Brown is President of the Edge Retail Academy, an organization devoted to the ongoing measurement and growth of jewelry store performance and profitability. For further information about the Academy’s management mentoring and industry benchmarking reports contact Carol Druan at carol@edgeretailacademy.com or call 877-569-8657.

David Brown

David Brown

David Brown is the President of The Edge Retail Academy (sister company of The Edge), a jewelry business consulting company that provides expert advisory services to help with all facets of your business including improved financials, healthier inventory, sales growth, staff performance, retirement/succession planning - all custom-tailored to your store’s needs. By utilizing the power of The Edge, we analyze Key Performance Indicators that point to current challenges and future opportunities. Edge Pulse is the ideal add-on to better understand critical sales data and industry market trends to improve profitability. It benchmarks your store against 1200+ other Edge Users and ensures you stay on top of industry stats. 877-569-8657, ext. 001, Inquiries@EdgeRetailAcademy.com or www.EdgeRetailAcademy.com.

Related Posts

Optimize your jewelry store’s website for better organic traffic – here’s how!

June 5, 2023
Image of Chuck Koehler

The Retailer’s Perspective: Things That Haven’t Changed

June 1, 2023
2,000 year old Roman intaglio ring. Photo Fellows Auctioneers

The Story Behind the Stone: Ancient Provenance

June 1, 2023

ChatGPT. Your secret edge?

May 31, 2023

Latest News

What's New

Sunstone releases the Orion PJ

June 7, 2023
Other News

The importance of consistently clienteling

June 7, 2023
On The Move

2023 COUTURE Design Awards winners announced

June 7, 2023

Other News

HardRock Summit returns to Denver in September

National Jeweler announces recipients of 2023 Retailer Hall of Fame

HRD Antwerp certifies the first commercial lab-grown “full diamond” ring

Research outlines factors that determine a purchase

Alliance for Responsible Mining and Mercury Free Mining field test innovative artisanal gold processing system

Optimize your jewelry store’s website for better organic traffic – here’s how!

Southern Jewelry News

© 2023 Southern Jewelry News.

Additional Information

  • About
  • 2023 Jewelry Trade Shows & Events
  • Media Kit
  • Contact
  • Sitemap
  • Newsletter Signup

Get Social with Us

No Result
View All Result
  • Featured Articles
    • Featured
    • Featured Retailers
    • Retailer Roundtable
    • Supplier Spotlight
    • Sponsored Content
  • Latest News
    • What’s New
    • Industry Events
    • Tradeshow News
    • On The Move
    • Other News
    • Furry Friends
  • Podcast
  • Columnists
  • Classifieds
  • Subscriptions
    • Newsletter Signup
    • Print Subscription
  • DIGITAL MAGAZINE
    • Southern Jewelry News
    • Mid-America Jewelry News
    • Archives

© 2023 Southern Jewelry News.