Looking for ways to inject new life into your all-important bridal business? Here are seven concepts, from fresh technological offerings to sweetly cost-efficient programs that let you expand your bridal inventory without spending a fortune.
1. Build-it-yourself
If the recession taught jewelers one thing,
it was that they need to wean themselves off of the habit of over-stocking inventory that does not move. Enter the next generation of bridal ring-building programs, which let jewelers and customers get exactly what they want, minus the risk.
"Some people might not believe in it...but I think it's a good add-on for your existing business," says Pat Javaheri, president of Los Angeles-based manufacturer Amden Jewelry.
Five years ago, the 35-year-old company got into the business of crafting the orders that come from custom ring-building programs. Since then, the number of existing programs has increased by roughly 20 percent, Javaheri says.
As is the case for all technology, the functionality and appearance of existing programs for the jewelry industry have improved at dizzying speeds.
M. Geller, which launched version one of its Bridal Ring Builder in 2004, is now on the third version, says Louis Price, chief operating officer. Upgrades to the program include changes to the layout and color schemes, and simplified search functions, all with the aim of making the program as user-friendly as possible.
"We all look at the competitive ball field," Price says in explaining why it was time for Bridal Ring Builder, part III. "We all look at the technology evolving in the competitive marketplace."
2. Fake it 'til you make it
It's a stand-off: Retailers are hesitant to plunk down cash to fill their display cases with diamond engagement rings that are not sure sellers, and vendors have trouble securing the credit that enables them to supply entire showrooms on memo.
One solution comes via the growing number of suppliers offering "brass-and-glass" inventory
programs that allow retailers to purchase engagement ring replicas made of metal alloy and cubic zirconia at a fraction of the cost of rings made of diamonds and precious metal. If your initial reaction is "not in my store," you are not alone.
"We have a lot of customers that when we introduced it, said 'This is not for me, I only sell the real thing,'" Gabriel and Co.'s Dominick Gabriel says of his company's Bridal Sample Program, launched in January 2008. Yet those same jewelers reconsidered after they saw how well the systems were working for other retailers, he says.
Gabriel and Co. offers eight different assortments of its best-selling mountings, and also gives jewelers the option to handpick their own mixes.
Bridal consumers do not complain about the look of the replicas--nor do they seem to mind the wait that comes with ordering either, as the majority of bridal is custom ordered anyway, Gabriel says.
One word of advice Gabriel offers to retailers who carry the samples: carry about 10 to 20 real sets of popular engagement ring styles.
"You know your market best and you need some live because you're always going to have the guy that wants to get engaged that day," he says.
Overnight Mountings Vice President Matthew Roth also sees jewelers' acceptance of brass-and-glass-type programs growing.
"It has been an easier hurdle to overcome because jewelers talk," Roth says. "Jewelers speak with jewelers. Jewelers hear from one another that the program is working."
3. Seize the celebrity endorsement
Colored diamonds have been red-carpet regulars over the past few years, but more recently, diamonds with hue have been heading into happily-ever-after territory thanks to big-screen veterans and chart-topping songbirds alike.
Jennifer Lopez famously kicked off the trend back in 2002, when actor Ben Affleck presented
her with a pink diamond solitaire, says Robert May, executive director of the Natural Color Diamond Association (NCDIA). The engagement may have gone belly-up, but the allure of colored diamonds was set in stone-and in photos.
This year, it lives on again, with a handful of celebrity brides-to-be-flashing colored diamond rings.
Leading the list over the last few months is country crooner Carrie Underwood, who has been flashing a Johnathon Arndt-designed yellow diamond ring. Then there is Heroes star Kristen Bell, who's been showing off her 3-carat, natural fancy-colored brown diamond ring designed by Neil Lane. Finally, there's supermodel Naomi Campbell, reportedly sporting a Van Cleef and Arpels black diamond ring.
While May says many retailers still do not carry colored diamonds, offering at least a small selection could tempt those customers who want the sort of ring that they won't see everywhere, right and left.
