All of us have times when we realize that despite our best intentions, we seem to be doing things the hard way. Frustrated, we catch ourselves and say, “There has to be a better way.”
Here are a couple of areas I see in independent jewelry stores I visit where “doing things the hard way” is more than just, frustrating, it is costing them valuable sales revenue.
Lack of Program Trays
A program tray is a display that holds several pieces that have some common characteristic and contain signage that gives information about each piece. (Think of the stud earring tray you have that holds 5 or 6 pairs) I love these trays because they sell merchandise! Face it – once a customer decides he wants to buy a pair of diamond studs, the question usually changes to either how nice, how big or how much. In program trays you can display your options with appropriate information and the customer can weigh the options and pick. When you display your assortment on slides or in a rack with 16 pair and no signage, you are forcing your sales people to look at the tags on each pair to inform the customer. Doing this forces the customer to remember the specs of each pair and the price, compare them in his mind and choose. You are making his decision much harder than it need be. Instead use program trays that display different options of essentially the same piece of merchandise (except for size or quality) and make the decision process easier for the customer. BTW – several display manufacturers have introduced program trays that hold 1, 3 or 6 SKU’s this year. Contact me if you want their names.
Organize your Bridal by How your Customer Shops
If a customer walks into your store looking for a halo style engagement ring, to how many cases do you have to take them to show your full assortment? Which case do you go to first? Which does your sales team go to first?
I’ve seen stores with halos in 7-8 different showcases because the store uses those “Free” displays they get from the manufacturer. (Do you organize your closet at home by the store from which you bought your clothes or by the type of those clothes?) I’ve seen staff members favor one display over another for some vague reason that has nothing to do with profit margin. Imagine if you went into a grocery store and had to go to 6 different aisles to see the different types of coffee they sold? You would not be a happy shopper. A shopping customer wants to see her choices organized into a space where all her choices are visible, comparisons are easily made and an informed decision is determined. Most of my clients put all their halos in a single case (or 2) and organize them by the second question the team asks, such as when do you need the ring or what stone shape/size.
The Lab Grown Dilemma
The growth of these diamonds has presented jewelers with many challenges, not the least of which is how/where to display them. My clients with the greatest sales are displaying them in the same cases as the mined diamonds, BUT putting them on a different color display element (Palladium is the most popular color for this) and branding them as lab. Putting all your lab in a separate case makes the buying process more difficult and certainly makes upselling to mined over lab more difficult. Put the lab studs in a program tray next to the mined studs. Put your lab solitaires next to your mined and see how much smoother your sales presentation flows
These 3 categories are only a few of the places where we are making our sales life more difficult than it should be. As we move into the Fall and upcoming Holiday season, I’ll focus on specific areas where you might evaluate your stores presentation to find areas where you can sell more by making it easier for your customer to buy.
Jewelry retail is a challenging business. Let’s make it easier to be successful if we can.
