The point is if you commit to creating a pearl department…. you will sell pearls. It is disheartening to hear jewelers claim they just don’t sell pearls when what they really mean is they just don’t carry pearls. With constant pressure placed on diamond margins it is inconceivable to me not to promote “The Pearl”, this month’s issue of Modern Jewelers “Pearl Power” is an excellent example of this. We applaud Modern Jeweler for their coverage and commitment to the world of pearls. If you do not receive the magazine please feel free to request a subscription through this link.
The following are excerpts from Modern Jeweler’s October 2005 article Pearl Power by David Federman. Take the time to read the entire article, it is well worth it.
If people start to identify you with pearls, they start to think of your store as fashion forward.”
Joe Boiadjian, Yale Jewelers, Santa Monica, California
“Consumers need to feel there is ample selection. Without an assortment, shoppers don’t feel they’re being given the chance to make a real choice.”
Larry Levin, Philadelphia
“Pearls have never been as much a part of fashion as they are today. They are now an essential to casual and formal dressing.”
Rick Little, Aspen Jewelers, Herndon, Virginia
SELECTION, SELECTION, SELECTION
Four blocks away from GIA’s old Santa Monica campus, Joe Boiadjian, the new owner of Yale Jewelers, is hatching a revitalization plan to keep old patrons and make new ones. Believing the queen of gems is just as essential to his customers at all stages and ages of life as the king of gems, he intends to make his store as much a pearl as a diamond center.
Toward that end, he’s stocking everything from stud earrings for teens to stately necklaces for their mothers and grandmothers. “I can’t think of a gem that provides more excuses to be in a jewelry store than the pearl,’ Boiadjian says. That’s why he now aims to make Yale’s a pearl purchaser’s paradise.
It’s easy to do, says Peter Bazar, president of Imperial-Deltah in East Providence, Rhode Island: “There are styles from $100 to $20,000—and every critical price point in between. Pearls fit every dress code from black tie to blue jeans.” Given such versatility, it is hardly surprising to find that after 10 months of ownership, pearls now account for nearly 20 percent of Boiadjian’s sales—up from 5 percent when he took over last December. “It’s nice to hear customers tell me, I’ve never seen so many pearls in this store,” or “your pearl selection is fabulous” he continues. Further, Boiadjian finds, pearls are a very affordable way for a neighborhood jeweler like himself to offer depth and breadth of selection in enough ways to appeal to widely divergent incomes, needs and tastes.
No matter whether they emphasize the classic or the contemporary, jewelers are learning that selection is the key to success with pearls. “Consumers today are shopping as much for a pearl store as a pearl strand,’ says Levin. “They need to feel there is ample selection. Without an assortment, shoppers don’t feel they’re being given the chance to make a real choice. In this age of super stores, wide selection is part of the psychology of consumerism.”
“I can’t tell you how many times jewelers have told me that pearls don’t sell in their stores,’ Hart says. “Well, no wonder. They carry few if any pearls. You can’t sell what you don’t have. Three years ago, I decided my store would tell anyone who walked into it that we’re pearl specialists.’
Hart admits her decision to position Karen’s Jewelers as a pearl center was a nail-biter, based far more on faith than demand. In fact, her husband had serious misgivings about her purchase of a 20-strand selection from Imperial-Deltah— despite the company’s assurance that they would buy them back should Oak Ridge prove as pearl adverse as some friends predicted it would be. “It took 18 months for us to sell our first strand,’ Hart admits, “but after that strands were a steady seller,’ and one of her highest turnover items.
Now that Hart has established herself as the local pearl headquarters, she is beginning to move beyond strands to items that tempt customers to further pearl purchases. “It’s common nowadays for people to have pearl collections,’ she says. “I want them to build them here.”
If you want to brand yourself as a pearl store, strands are the most proven way of doing so—Akoya strands especially in 5-1/2 to 7mm sizes.