Category: Retail

How Jewelry Retailers Can Win Customer Sales Over E-Commerce This Holiday Season

Posted on by andrea hill

The holiday season is a jewelry retailer’s busiest time of year! In addition to having twinkling lights and festive wreaths outside, you probably have more and more people milling about inside. That’s a lot of opportunity for revenue that you don’t want to go to waste! So, you need a solid sales strategy to pull customers away from their online shopping and bring them back into your store.

Find out three areas of your sales process you should implement to fit your customers’ needs, and you’ll be sure to increase your jewelry retail sales this holiday season.

Incorporate Technology

If you want to boost your jewelry retail sales during the holidays, you need to capitalize on the benefits of new and emerging technologies. Why is technology so important in your sales process? People can barely put their phones down! Technology is a huge part of daily life now, and if you’re not working the convenience of digital technology into your store and sales process, you’re missing out on a huge opportunity.

Today, a digital shopping experience isn’t just a perk – it’s an expectation. Here are three ways you can easily add technology to your sales repertoire.

  • Social Media – Who doesn’t have Facebook? While there are still a few holdouts, this is the best way to stay in regular communication with your clients. Social media opens up channels for you to connect and engage your target audience. You can build interest in your brand as well as drive customers into your brick and mortar store. From promoting events to showing off beautiful intricate pieces, there are numerous ways you can bring attention to your store through social media.Consider running social media campaigns this holiday season. You can offer special sales, free cleanings, or any other perk to draw your customers in. Don’t worry if you don’t have the skills or time to create visual posts. That’s OK! You can still offer tips and suggestions that your readers will benefit from. When you stay active on platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, you’ll build a presence online and ensure readers remember your name and brand.
  • Tablets and Mobile Devices – Not only should you use social media for your external outreach, you should provide mobile devices or tablets to make the in-store shopping experience more appealing. Tablets are a great way to digitize your inventory and display high definition images and videos of pieces, even if you don’t have them in your store. These devices enable your customer to play a bigger role in their search for the perfect stone, allowing them to understand what are all the available options before pinpointing exactly what they want.Many companies have already adopted tablets into their payment process. Because these are tools that customers already feel comfortable using, they’ll find it a convenient addition to your own sales process. High-tech mobile devices and tablets convey to customers that you’re running a modern jewelry store, which indicates you understand the changes in your consumer base and that you can adapt to service their needs.
  • Apps – A comprehensive app can offer a lot more usability and features than a website. Jewelry store apps work in conjunction with your tablets and mobile devices, and they’re a smart way to boost your jewelry retail sales this holiday season. Top jewelry apps don’t just show customers pictures of available diamonds and gemstones, they also provide search and filtering options to make finding that perfect one easier. High definition images and 360-degree views on these apps also serve to make customers feel like they’re holding the pieces in their own hands. They can see the stones themselves, without having to imagine what they might look like in a setting.

Adding new technology into an already high-stakes sales process can be intimidating. But with the right components, you’ll be able to modernize, without losing the personal aspects of your business that make it so special.

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Personalize the Experience

Every customer wants to feel like the most important customer ever, so make sure you’re creating a personalized experience for them in your store.

  • Find Out What They’re Looking For – When clients come into your store this holiday season, they may not be totally sure what they’re looking for. They just know they need a gift! Before you can supply the perfect present, you need to work with them to identify what features the right piece of jewelry needs to have.

The best way to personalize a customer’s search is to have a wide range of pieces that could potentially meet their needs. Use your experience in fine jewelry to pull pieces you think they might like, based on your conversation with them and their description of their style.

However, we’ve all had those customers that just couldn’t find what they want. In that case, you need to help them create a piece that fits all of their needs. Drafting a CAD model or 3D rendering (possibly using a jewelry app) can help the customer find precisely what they’re looking for and will help them visualize a style that they haven’t been able to find.

  • Develop Relationships – One area where brick and mortar jewelry stores will always have an advantage over online stores is the personal relationships it can provide. Customers want to shop someplace where they feel like they know the people selling to them, so it’s imperative that you develop a connection with your customers.

You can do this by spending time focused on each customer that comes in. Have your salespeople talk to their customers, without always being outwardly focused on closing a deal. Once you find out more details about them and who they’re buying for (without being too nosey), you solidify the relationship, build customer loyalty, and can easily make expert recommendations.

  • Create a Comfortable Atmosphere – Make sure you’re giving your customer a warm, welcoming place to come shop for jewelry – an oasis from the holiday season rush! There are a few inexpensive, simple things you can do to make your store more appealing. For example, while the best light for viewing and displaying diamonds and jewelry is very bright white light, that often can feel cold and sterile. Instead, have diamond lamps or handheld lights to show off jewelry, and then simply click the lights off when having a chat. Your jewelry will still sparkle, without bright lights giving customers a headache!

Another inexpensive simple method to make your store more appealing is to raise the counters a little. This makes it easier for customers to get a better look at pieces without having to lean over too far. Customers want to discuss factors like budget or reasons for their purchase in private, so create quiet places where your salespeople can talk with customers. The more comfortable and accommodating your environment is, the more likely a customer is to come back in the future.

Make the Process Easy

Finally, in this shopping season, it’s important that you make the buying process as easy as possible for customers. Crowds and tight schedules can make holiday shopping a stressful nightmare. So, take these steps to ensure your jewelry retail sales soar during the holidays.

  • Easy Communication – Missing a call or having staff too busy to talk to customers can cost you sales. You need sales people readily available to assist and advise prospects on which pieces are ideal for their needs. Make sure that communicating with staff is as easy as possible. Provide tools like instant messaging or online chat rooms through your website to answer questions. Or you can promise to answer all emails within a certain time frame (12 hours, for example). Encourage your clients to connect with you on your social media sites, and dedicate at least one member of your team to being your store’s social media guru, answering any and all questions a client might send. Make it as easy as possible for customers to connect however they’re most comfortable communicating. When you do, you’ll build customer relationships for life!
  • Quick Delivery – During the holiday season, most customers have a pretty hard deadline for when they need their presents – December 25! So, it’s important that, even if a piece is custom-made, it’s ready when the customer expects it. While you can’t control if a package is delivered on time, there are a few ways you can ensure a quick delivery to your customer, like picking stones that will arrive quickly. Choose local vendors you know and trust to send what your customers need exactly when they need it. And, when you’re totally sure what the customer wants and find that exact diamond or colored gemstone, you won’t have to face the delays that come with reordering. Also, don’t forget to keep your customers informed on when their piece will arrive.
  • Schedule Appointments – Another way to make shopping easy on your customers this holiday season is by offering appointments. When clients can call ahead, schedule an appointment, and avoid a wait in store, they’ll remember how easy you made holiday shopping for them and come back next year! Your customers aren’t the only ones who benefit, either. With appointments, your salespeople are better prepared to show exactly what the customer is looking for, instead of trying to pull things at the last minute. Customers want your undivided attention and with appointments, you can make this a reality, no matter how busy you are.

When you take these steps to tailor your holiday season sales strategy to the client’s needs, you’re sure to see revenue increase. Don’t let the opportunities of holiday sales pass you by. By focusing on the customers, your jewelry retail sales during the holidays are sure to beat out the e-commerce competition.

Want to connect with potential clients? Download this digital marketing template designed specifically for jewelry store owners.

3 Ways to Qualify Your Jewelry Prospects and Close Sales

Posted on by andrea hill

It’s the most wonderful time of the year! Especially for jewelry store owners. The holidays are your busiest seasons, which makes it an ideal time to evaluate your sales process and determine whether or not it’s really working.

Make this your most profitable holiday season yet. Learn how to target the right people through qualifying your jewelry prospects, close the sale, and develop a following of loyal customers.

How to Qualify Your Jewelry Prospects

One huge mistake many salespeople make is talking way more than they listen. Since jewelry purchases are typically driven by emotion, it’s essential that you create a positive customer experience. Qualifying your jewelry prospects by asking the right questions is key.

There are three important questions you should ask right off the bat to get a better sense of how serious this prospect is about making a purchase, and to qualify your jewelry prospects.

  • Why are you buying? To connect with your prospects emotionally, you need to understand the why behind their purchases. Who are they buying for and what is the occasion – engagement, anniversary birthday, holiday? These questions give you more insight into a prospect’s motivators, helps you qualify your jewelry prospects, and build the best buying experience.
  • What is your timeline for purchasing? We all know the salesperson’s worst nightmare – the browser. The person who wants to “just look” for the future purchases, without any intention of making one today. Before you engage in a lengthy sales conversation, you need to determine the client’s timeline for buying. Are they buying today, next week, or in a year? Knowing this information up-front helps you tailor your sales process to the customer, i.e. not spending too much time on a browser, while still making a positive impression that might get you a sale in the future.
  • What is your budget? Finally, the big question – how much? Every potential buyer comes into a jewelry store with a number in mind, and it’s up to the salesperson to identify that number at the onset of the conversation. If you only show a prospect pieces outside their price range, they’ll leave your store empty handed.

Think about it this way. If you wanted to buy a car under $20,000 and the salesperson only showed you cars over $40,000, you would probably walk away without buying anything. The same holds true in the jewelry business. When you qualify your jewelry prospects, it’s up to you to determine a prospect’s price range and find the highest quality piece within their budget.

How to Close the Sale

The way people buy today has completely changed. It only makes sense that the way jewelry stores sell should change, too! To keep up with your digital shopping competition, you need to incorporate a few benefits of their sales model, and upgrade some key features of your own sales technique . Once you qualify your jewelry prospects, it’s time to focus on closing the sale.

Let’s look at the few must have features that will help you close a sale:

  • Large Inventory. Because online buying options are endless, brick and mortar stores have to increase their inventory to stay competitive. A large inventory helps you get the right diamond or colored gemstone in front of the customer, and you’re able to work effortlessly within any budget.
  • Images or Videos. While a larger inventory might be nice, you obviously can’t have every diamond or colored gemstone in the store. Therefore, high-definition images and videos are a great compromise. You’ll pique the interest of your clients when you can show them beautiful, detailed images of a diamond or colored gemstone that’s in their budget.And, there’s instant gratification; another buying feature that online shoppers and customers have learned to expect. With images and videos, the customer sees the stone without having to wait for it to come to the store, and they can compare different options side-by-side instantly.This is a great tool in persuading “not-right-now” buyers, too. Jewelry purchases are big decisions, so sending the client home with pictures and videos aids in the decision making process. They can return to the images of diamonds or colored gemstones they’re interested in as well as show the options to their family members and friends for their opinions.
  • Jewelry stores have to take a different approach to their sales process to close today. Salespeople need to play the role of helpful, patient, expert advisors. Not everyone is an expert in jewelry, so they choose to work with salespeople who are. And, they want to work with personable, friendly salespeople who craft an experience, not just a sale.Jewelry salespeople also need the right tools. Your expert salespeople should have industry leading tools that support their sales efforts. (Think accessible jewelry apps with the HD images mentioned before!)It is a good idea for each salesperson to keep a schedule of which one of their customers they need to follow up with. This way they can accommodate clients who aren’t ready to buy today but still give them the extra bit of attention to make sure they get what they wanted.

Just because your current sales process is “how it’s always been done,” doesn’t mean it’s the right sales process for the future. Don’t be afraid to make changes, and adopt new tactics to connect with your clients. As a jewelry expert with the ability to craft a positive buying experience, you’ll always have the advantage over online stores. You just need the right qualification and sales process to close the deal.

Do you want to bring in more business? Download this free digital marketing template designed specifically for jewelry store owners to use.

Create A Customized Jewelry Display Store Online For a Better Customer Experience

Posted on by andrea hill

Do you feel like the front door to your jewelry store swings open less and less frequently? For many jewelry owners, an increase in online shopping is pretty easy to observe. In fact, about 80% of Americans shop on the internet, with 43% of buyers making purchases online “weekly” or “a few times a month.”

These numbers might seem like a threat to brick and mortar jewelry stores, but digital shopping isn’t all bad. You just need to find a way to harness the benefits of digital buying and incorporate them into your own store. An online jewelry display store is one way to make that happen. A digital display of merchandise, including diamonds and colored gemstones, can take your business to a whole new level. And you can better engage consumers with a digital shopping experience.

Your online jewelry display store shouldn’t replace in-store shopping – it should support it! Find out some of the benefits an online jewelry display store can offer your business and your customers.

Images and Videos

It’s hard to get a customer to fall in love with a jewelry setting that has no stone in it. While you’re able to customize special pieces based on a customer’s need, it can be hard for the buyer to visualize exactly what they’re getting if they’re reading a description. Customers want to see and hold the pieces that they’re buying for that special someone.

When you incorporate an online jewelry display store into your sales process, you can help customers picture the final product by showing them high definition images and 360-degree videos of the exact stone they would be getting for their custom piece. With these detailed views, they not only picture what the diamond or colored gemstone looks like, customers feel like they’re holding the stone in their hands.

Even when a diamond or gemstone is not in the store, your customers won’t have to wait until a stone comes in to decide if they like the piece. With an online jewelry display store, they can pinpoint exactly what they want in terms of shape, size, and setting. You get all the advantages of digital shopping – like seeing items before you buy – with all the personal touch of going in the store.

Create Favorites

Sometimes making a big purchase isn’t done in a single day. It’s like buying a car. You might look for the right car for a month before you find one you love. Buying an important piece of jewelry can be a similar process. Fortunately, with an online jewelry display store, your customers can save their favorite diamonds or colored gemstones.

Think about the potential customer looking for the perfect engagement ring. He might come into the store with something in mind, or he might need to look at a dozen rings before he chooses one. That’s when creating a favorites list in an online jewelry display store comes in handy. Your customers can save all the stones they’re interested in to revisit the next time they’re in the store. If they need to go home and think about the purchase before they make their final decision, it’s no big deal! You can pick up right where you left off when they come back to the store. Then, your staff isn’t pressured to close a deal immediately, and the customer can have a more relaxed buying experience.

Visually Pleasing, Interactive Experience

Today’s shoppers are used to a totally different buying experience than they were a decade or two ago. They expect a high-tech buying experience, that gives them control over their search options and helps them find exactly what they’re looking for. You don’t want to replace the in-store shopping experience with an online one, but you can use an online jewelry display store to support your in-store sales process.

Give your shoppers an app with a sleek, high-tech design they’ll love. When you have a well-designed app with your branding on it, customers will associate high-tech, modern jewelry shopping with your store, and you’ll knock out the competition that’s sticking to more traditional sales approaches.

An online jewelry display store also gives your customers a more interactive experience, with greater control over the search and selection process. With the right app, they can narrow down options by setting their own search parameters, designating price range, size, etc. This is exactly like shopping online, but your customers get the benefit of personalized service and years of experience from your jewelry experts in the store.

Side-by-Side Comparison

When you’re helping a customer find the picture-perfect diamond or colored gemstone for their loved one, it can be a challenge to communicate which stone is the best value for their investment. Showing your clients a side-by-side comparison on your online jewelry display store can help them visually compare stones and their prices.

You’ll always ensure your customers get the best price for their investment in a diamond or colored gemstone, and they’ll trust that your jewelry online display store helps them find exactly what they’re looking for. People will come back to your store if they have confidence your jewelry online display store can help them find the best deal on the best products.

The ability to offer side-by-side comparisons can also help you close deals before customers even walk in the store. With the opportunity to look at images and videos of the pieces they’re interested in, customers might come into the store already knowing exactly what they want!

An online jewelry display store can change the way your customers shop. You’ll provide the best of both worlds: the convenience and tools of modern technology and the expert guidance of a dedicated salesperson, all when a customer buys from your brick and mortar store.

Take your jewelry business to the next level with the right online jewelry display store. This will become an essential tool in your sales process and it will be a compelling reason for clients to choose your business over the competition. When you provide your customers a better buying experience, you’re sure to create loyal customers who will give you business for years to come.

Download our app today to create a better customer experience for tomorrow. Get the Virtual Diamond Boutique app now.

How to Create an Interactive, Engaging Customer Experience in the Jewelry Market

Posted on by andrea hill

Today, about 80% Americans are online shoppers, compared to just 22% in 2000. It’s no longer a competitive advantage to have a digital display – it’s a necessity. This uptick in online shopping has the potential to hurt brick and mortar stores, unless they stop relying solely on in-store purchases and find a way to give buyers an engaging e-commerce experience. This rings true for jewelry stores and dealers, too.

While buyers’ desire for beautiful jewelry hasn’t changed, the way they purchase it has. Businesses in the jewelry market have to appeal to two new types of buyers – those who are shopping and buying diamonds online exclusively, and those who research their options carefully before going into a store to make their purchase.

To reach both types of consumers, you need to utilize all the tools available to create the best digital experience, including interactive displays and online databases, designed to enhance the customer engagement. Tactics like these continue to rise in popularity, because they meet the demands of modern buyers, especially millennials.

How can you create a more engaging, interactive customer experience to bring clients buying diamonds online back into stores? Explore four features businesses in the jewelry market should adopt to enhance the buying process and engage digitally motivated customers.

Inventory at Your Fingertips

Today’s shoppers have short attention spans and a need for instant gratification. When the expectation is instantaneous access to supply, stores need to take measures to keep up.

While you can’t have every piece of jewelry on display at all time, you can provide a view of your pieces with a robust, digital inventory system available to clients. To make buying decisions faster and easier, inventory should be at the fingertips of potential customers to scroll through until they find the perfect option.

So, how does this create a more interactive experience for consumers? Users, primed for online shopping experiences now expect information to be available with a single click. (And if it’s not, there’s a good chance they’ll move onto another vendor when buying diamonds online.) That means physical jewelry stores have to build a digital presence to match consumer expectations. When you have your inventory at your fingertips, buyers are able to view a wider variety of products at any given time.

Images and Interactive Videos

As an experienced jeweler, you’re likely able to skim a diamond grading report or read a description of jewelry, and quickly conjure an image of the piece in your mind. Customers, however, don’t have the years of experience and knowledge to do the same. They can’t truly envision the piece until they actually see it. That’s why providing images and interactive videos of jewelry is essential in today’s market.

Because consumers need to see a piece to truly appreciate it, many e-commerce stores provide countless pictures of an item, helping buyers feel sure that they’re getting what they’re paying for. Similarly, when you’re showing a customer a setting without a stone or working with them on a custom piece, they need to have a thorough understanding of the gems they’re investing in.

To help your customers envision their end product when buying diamonds online, make sure to provide a few different interactive features, including:

  • High-definition images of the diamonds or jewels, allowing the client to zoom in on small inclusions and details.
  • 360-degree interactive video in which users control the movement of the diamonds, showing all angles.

By providing high-quality imaging with numerous angles and views, your customer feels like the diamond they’re buying is actually in the palm of their hand.

Organized Jewel Details

Another way to provide the most interactive, engaging experience for a customer is by giving them all of the information they ever wanted (or didn’t even know they needed) about a diamond or colored gemstone. Having an organized, uniform process for providing the details on your jewels is both professional and essential.

You need to match details to images of diamonds or jewels, and then, uniformly provide these details across all your products. You’ll never be scrambling for information or digging through files to find diamond grading reports again. And, you give consumers buying diamonds online an accurate, detailed view of what they’re paying for.

To rapidly authenticate jewels and educate users on their value, adopt a system for managing your jewel details. You’ll be able to deliver all the needed details instantly, before a buyer turns to a solely e-commerce competitor.

Numerous Options

One reason online shopping has revolutionized so many industries is the sheer number of options consumers now have access to. Think about shopping two decades ago. You really only had access to the products in stores or catalogues. Today, you can basically order anything, from anywhere. And consumers are now accustomed to considering as many options as possible when they shop.

To keep up with this aspect of the e-commerce boom, jewelers need an almost unlimited database of options for their customers. Buyers expect diamonds of every cut, carat, clarity, and color to be viewable and accessible. The sheer variety of options allow buyers to purchase a diamond that aligns precisely with their specifications, and they can compare all the options available to them.

Having numerous options helps jewelers, too. You can easily accommodate buyers with any budget, ensuring you never have to turn a customer away because you can’t immediately produce a jewel that’s ideal for their needs. And with so many options organized and accessible, you can easily match jewels for custom pieces.

When you integrate these features into your jewelry business, you’re sure to keep pace with the changing market and buying habits of today’s consumers. Incorporating these digital aspects into your jewelry business empower you to engage more buyers around the world, resulting in more revenue for your business.

With these new features, you can maintain your competitive advantage over exclusively online dealers, and help today’s buyers to get the pieces they really want from a jewelry business they can trust.

Make your digital engagement even easier. Learn how Virtual Diamond Boutique can help by scheduling a free demo of our app now.