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36 The Jewelry Business Magazine The local retail jeweler is losing a lot of business to the Internet. The younger generation of jewelry designers having grown up with the Internet are building e-commerce websites and selling direct. Meanwhile there are plenty of jewelry manufacturers who are being forced to sell online because sales to retail stores are down. With social media like Pinterest and Instagram driving interest the demand for jewelry isnt shrinking but sales are being funneled through more jewelry e-commerce websites. At least once a week I hear about a new jewelry e-commerce website that expects to capture a few million in sales within their first year of launch. Thats money that obviously is coming out of the pockets of the current population of retail jewelry stores. Trends indicate that every retail jewelry store will eventually need to have some type of e-commerce website and build an audience far outside their local area. However I dont think its realistic to tell you that you need to jump from your current website into e-commerce without first understanding some simple ways to improve your current website habits. We all need to walk before we learn to run and so Ive written the following 4 ways you can better walk with your current site while you plan for the inevitability of running with e-commerce. 1. Update Your Website Frequently I cant stress this point enough. Your website should be updated every time you have a new event new promotion or add a new product line to your store. At minimum you should update your home page once a month but your target habit should be to update it once a week. By the time you get to e-commerce youll be updating it every day. 2. Learn to Achieve the Wow Jewelryphotographyistoughbuteveryonecaneventually learn to do it when you have the right equipment. Most jewelry websites have large photos or ads on their home page that are simply not effective marketing tools. Your home page needs to command attention as soon as someone sees it yet general photography on white backgrounds will never do it. Unusual angles extreme close-ups and colorful backgrounds are among the better ways to wow someone. Professional photography is very expensive and often seems like an impossible barrier to entry into e-commerce yet its not impossible at all. Ive written a lot of information about jewelry photography which I cant fit into this column but Ill gladly share some online articles and equipment suggestions if you contact me. 3. Become a Social Maven Theres a new generation of jewelry designers that grew up with the Internet. They find it easy to share photos on Instagram and Pinterest and attract thousands of followers from all over the world. Theyve managed to attract an audience for their single line of jewelry but a retail jeweler has many lines to share. For e-commerce to be successful someone in your store needs to learn to manage your social media accounts and build a following by engaging customers online. Eventually youll need a social media director on your staff. 4. Learn To Tie Your Marketing Together You have to learn to tie all your marketing together and track it all. Sadly even though its easy to track the results from online advertising most retail jewelers are paying for online marketing without implementing ways to track the results. Print media certainly isnt dead but it is difficult to measure results. In addition to your local newspaper you need to find other local places to advertise where your customers frequent. Direct mail grocery store shopping cart ads and a full page ad in the program at the local center for performing arts can be used for brand awareness or specific campaigns. Ask your marketing agency for innovative ways to track it. Your future e-commerce website will live or die based on how you measure results which in turn guide your marketing spending. Right now every time a retail jeweler asks me to set up an e-commerce website for them I try to talk them out of it. Although Id love to build an e-commerce website for everyone who hires me initially its better to guide every jeweler through mastering the four points above before committing to e-commerce. Even if you think e-commerce isnt in your future the success of your store is still tied to your mastery of what Ive explained here. Matthew A Perosi Matthew Perosi reports the latest Internet trends and methods that are most relevant to the jewelry industry in his 5-day per week newsletter available through jwag.biz. Tap into the more than 1100 free newsletters to guide you towards better usage of websites social andmobile. Matthew invites your feedback and questions at mattjwag.biz or 973.413.8211. Many questions from TRJ readers have turned into great newsletter topics. 4 WAYS TO IMPROVE YOUR WEBSITE PREPARE FOR E-COMMERCE By Matthew A. Perosi