Sponsored content from Southern Jewelers Guild
By Ann Glynn
President/CEO
Southern Jewelers Guild
Happy Holidays to you!
Have you felt it yet? That little tug in the pit of your stomach that seems to be a mix of excitement and dread. You know, it’s the one that happens when you start to think about what the 2015 holiday season will bring.
I think most of us approach October with a feeling of optimism, although we try to be realistic about what exactly the holiday season, in terms of sales potential, will hold for us. Having a good balance of stock, a nice calendar of customer events, and a willing sales staff is an excellent start to a good selling season, but I’d like to see you use the month of October to go a step farther, and investigate some online tools, services and programs that can help make 2015 one of your best selling seasons ever.
I wrote briefly last month about how the Southern Jewelers Guild has partnered with Google for the “Get Your Business Online” initiative. The initiative is part of our Digital Real Estate Administration program, which allows our members the benefit of a direct relationship with Google to help identify all of the FREE business listing opportunities that are available for you online. Just as you prepare your storefront for the holiday season, please take some time to prepare your digital landscape (business listings, etc) as well, so that shoppers who are looking for you will find the information they need, and connect with you during the holiday season.
Are you involved with Small Business Saturday®? If not, why not? American Express founded Small Business Saturday in 2010 to help businesses with their most pressing need – getting more customers. Small Business Saturday happens every year on the Saturday after Thanksgiving and encourages people to shop locally within their communities and to support the small businesses that help write the American story.
This year, Small Business Saturday will take place on November 28. To get an idea about how Small Business Saturday was being approached within our industry, I turned to my friends at Preferred Jewelers International. They told me that Preferred Jewelers International is encouraging its members to be part of the American Express Small Business Saturday movement because one of the major benefits for small businesses that participate is the opportunity to attract more customers, not just on Small Business Saturday, but year-round. They also told me that retailers who participate in Small Business Saturday can create free, personalized marketing materials like printable signage that can be displayed on-site at their business whether or not they are an American Express Card merchant. How can you beat that?
For more information on Small Business Saturday, head to the Shop Small website at www.shopsmall.americanexpress.com/.
And if you’re interested in finding out more about Preferred Jewelers International, you’ll find it online at www.preferredjewelersinternational.com/.
If you want to up your holiday game with more online visibility, but hate the thought of investing a lot of time and money to revamp or expand your existing website, then you might want to consider using some of the tools and services available from IDEX Onsite. Did you know you can customize and broker inventories estimated at more than $5 billion from sellers around the world, without laying out money on inventory? The IDEX database is fully customizable, which allows you to define the diamond inventory to be displayed on your website according to the specifications of your choice, such as cut, carat, color, clarity, cut grade, price, certificate, supplier and location. Plus the IDEX Onsite embedded diamond search engine and results pages work seamlessly with your existing website, allowing you complete control over your corporate identity. Best of all, Southern Jewelers Guild members can save between 30% and 60% on select IDEX services! For more information, or to get started visit www.southernjewelersguild.com/save-now-with-idex-online/.
And finally, the National Retail Federation has published its 2015 Retail Holiday Planning Guide. The inaugural 2015 Retail Holiday Planning Playbook is the retailer’s guide to key questions and issues around the upcoming holiday season. You’ll find it online now at www.nrf.com/resources/retail-library/2015-retail-holiday-planning-playbook#sthash.Pmejf3RH.dpuf.
Have questions about the Southern Jewelers Guild or want more information about membership? I’m here to help! E-mail me at Ann@SouthernJewelersGuild.com or call 504-615-1191.
Ann Glynn is President and CEO of Southern Jewelers Guild, an organization dedicated to helping jewelers, vendors and industry-related tradespeople identify their target market, create and grow a client base, pair you with vendor partners who provide tools to help you succeed, and work with you to make sure you are operating at optimal performance.
