Reinventing Your Store, Your Services and Yourself

For the 2007 holiday season and year as a whole, jewelry retailers who experienced anemic store traffic, lower margins and declining revenues can find ample excuses way in any number of sources:  record high oil prices, declining home values, volatility in the stock market, increasing food prices and more. Although it is obvious that the economic environment will greatly impact the consumer’s disposable income, the big question is – what are you going to do about it?

Many jewelers I talk to are burned out, fed up and frustrated with the jewelry business. I predict an explosion of store closings in the next few years, not because of shrinking margins, not because of the Internet and not because of Wal-Mart or Jared, but because many lack a positive mental attitude in the face of such difficult and changing times.

The pace of the crew is the pace of the leader. Many store owners today have simply run out of steam and lack the internal fortitude that’s needed to stay in the game.

More than capital and inventory, it takes a lot to get through each day – an untold amount of physical, mental and emotional strength, an open mind and the courage and conviction to try something new. It takes humility and it takes failure (we learn more from our failures than from our successes), as well as analysis, investment and re-investment. Most importantly, it takes ACTION.

It doesn’t take hope, prayer, the magic pill or Prosac. In today’s fiercely competitive environment, doing your best isn’t enough – it’s doing whatever it takes.

We have been over-retailed for many years and since our products have little or no planned obsolescence, jewelers have been able to live and survive off fat inventories.

There are three types of jewelers:  those that are making it happen, those that are watching it happen and those that are asking what happened. As the party draws to a close, the jewelers left standing will be those that are executing and implementing.

It can be summed up simply. If you always do what you’ve always done, you will always get what you’ve always got.  It is said that stupidity is doing the same thing each and every time while still expecting a different result.

Communicating with customers and prospects has never been easier, more affordable or more effective, thanks to technology from digital printing and the Internet. Further, there are easily measured strategies that are able to pinpoint new prospects like a laser beam.

Retail jewelry sales are expected to grow 4-6 percent per year. Better and fewer jewelers will find a bigger and healthier piece of the jewelry pie.

For those that can stay in the business, reinvent themselves and tap into their inner strength, the future looks very bright.

Porte Marketing Group is a leader in providing turnkey marketing solutions for jewelry retailers and manufacturers. Founded by James S. Porte in 1989, the company provides research, consulting, seminars, printing, photography and graphic design services for the jewelry industry. For further information, contact James Porte jporte01[at]aol[dot]com  www.portemarketing.com