Modern Jewelry Trends

Remember those book and record clubs? Once you signed up, you would get a delivery of a pre-selected item every month. QVC is now applying the concept to jewelry too with its new Auto-Delivery Jewelry program. For example, you can buy a sterling silver Judith Ripka cross charm bracelet for $84.78 plus shipping and then every month for five months they will send you another cross charm to add to that bracelet and bill you $35.54 plus shipping. Other Auto-Delivery jewelry items include a collection of thin 14k Eternagold bangles for $186 each, sterling turquoise pendant collection, each $127.62, and a Judith Ripka heart charm bracelet. This seems like a clever way to get beyond price point resistance. That charm bracelet is $292.30 and the stack of four bangles is $768.88, perhaps beyond the impulse level for QVC customers. Does it work? Both Ripka bracelets are “waitlist only,” so maybe it does.

A new website from La Fondation de la Haute Horlogerie, www.hautehorlogerie.org, has detailed information on fine watches and watchmaking for retailers, collectors, and anyone who knows what a tourbillon is. (For those who don’t, the site also includes a glossary with illustrated definitions of 400 technical watchmaking terms.)  It is a comprehensive introduction to how watches are made and the arcane world of complications for sales staff and includes lots of history from top brands, including A. Lange & Sohne, Audemars Piguet, Cartier, Girard Perregaux, IWC, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Panerai, Parmigiani Fleurier, Piaget, Vacheron Constantin, and Van Cleef & Arpels.

Enamel, links, long necklaces, lots of black and white, and new watches from jewelry brands were the top trends at the Orogemma fair held last week in Vicenza, Italy. The fair launched a glossy new hall called B1 for the top brands to build beautiful new Basel-style booths. New styles launched at the fair give a sense of what we can expect for 2007 and some will even be in-store for the holidays this year. Many designers featured warm tones of rose gold, brown gold, brown pearls, and brown gems, enamel, coral, reds, and yellows. Rock and roll styles, especially skulls, reigned at Hellmuth Simply Good (who also makes Vivienne Westwood) and Gavello. Innovator Calgaro launched a new Moorea group of freshwater pearl and colored silver styles in fashion colors like brown and purple at affordable price points (starting at just $500 retail!) Nanis launched a collection of affordable new link-shaped watches in steel with 18k gold plating in three colors (the rose gold version is particularly cool, naturally). In Europe, the watches will retail at 165 Euro retail, about $200, but they aren’t priced yet for the US market. Nanis also has a new boxed set for $1,337 retail: its popular 18k pierced heart pendant with five interchangeable colors of mother of pearl hearts to wear with the pendant and matching ribbons. Companies with outstanding new enamel collections include Carlo Barberis and Bibigi. We’ll try to include as many images of new styles as possible in the November/December issue of Modern Jeweler.

Sterling has relaunched the Kay Jewelers website and now offers online shoppers the choice of shipping or free in-store pick-up.  This option, common in electronics, isn’t common for jewelry yet (Zale.com doesn’t offer it). New bells and whistles at Kay.com include 360 degree views of jewelry in its exclusive Leo Diamond collection. Actually the pendants are 180 degree views, they don’t show the back (Must not be pretty!) The interactive 3D views are pretty nice but not quite as good as the 3D-view movies at JamesAllen.com. But since both are created with 3D modeling, not product photography, they never really look real to me. I still prefer beautiful photographs with multiple views. And if there is too much retouching I assume they are hiding something.

Photography is really important to the appeal of any website and is especially critical for ecommerce sites. According to a recent consumer survey by the Jewelry Consumer Opinion Council, 85% of consumers said more detailed photos would help their online shopping experience. That’s behind only better prices (89%) and free shipping (95%) in level of consumer interest.

Want the first peek at The Blood Diamond, the movie that everyone is worrying may ruin Christmas for the diamond industry? The preview is now available on Iklipz.com. Call me crazy but it doesn’t look that bad to me. The trailer, anyway, is talking about “a stone so rare, men will do anything to possess it. Wars will be fought in search of it, and all who touch it are left with blood on their hands.” That’s stone, singular. Doesn’t it sound to you like yet another movie about a treasure that people will kill to possess? That’s very different from a movie about a general situation that applies to all diamonds in a country or continent. Maybe the movie itself will be more broad, but at this point, the trailer looks like standard non-political stuff. Maybe it won’t be so sensational after all.

The web is a great way to spread positive (and negative) word of mouth. When you Google your store name (which of course you do regularly, right?), pay particular attention to mentions on consumer review sites.

Although most of these shopping rating sites focus on online stores, there are a few that also include reviews of bricks & mortar stores as well. For example, one place to look for consumer comments about your store is Insiderpages.com. Do a search for jewelry and your city and see if there are any reviews.

Of course, we aren’t recommending that you review your own store (or trash the competition: let’s face it, the anonymity of the online world can lead to dirty pool, which is why you are Googling your store name regularly, right?) but you can and should encourage your customers to post their compliments online.

Although Pricescope.com is an online diamond shopper’s haven, where consumers go for advice on what diamond to buy (and how much to pay), a thread from last May included some praise for bricks and mortar jewelers, even from some consumers who bought their diamonds online. Who received these accolades?

In order of mention: Hudson Poole Jewelers in Tuscaloosa, Alabama; Cornell’s Jewelers in Rochester, New York; Liberty Diamonds in Irvine, California; Birks in Montreal; Garrett Jewelers in Aptos, California; Willow Glen Jewelers in San Jose, California; Joe Escobar in Campbell, California; Barker Diamond Company and Village Jewelers in Nashville, Tennesee; Brown & Co. Jewelers in Roswell, Georgia, Goldworks in Chapel Hill, North Carolina; Jewelsmith in Durham North Carolina; PhilMar Jewelers in New York; Ulman’s Jewelry in Fredericksburg, Virginia; Optima Jewelers in Narberth, Pennsylvania; Good Old Gold in Massapequa Park, New York; Hogan’s Jewelers in Gaylord, Michigan; D D Designs in Rockford, Illinois; Special Designs of Jewelry in Suffern, New York; Nice Ice in Roseburg, Oregon; J. Lewis Jewelers in Bellevue, Washington; Roman Jewelers in Flemington and Bridgewater, New Jersey; Geoffrey’s in San Carlos, California; Bernie Robbins in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; A. T. Thomas Jewelers in Lincoln, Nebraska; Bracken Jewelers in Santa Monica, California; Long’s in Burlington Massachusetts; Goodman and Sons in Williamsburg, Virginia; Harper & Faye in Boston, Massachusetts; Norris Jewelers in Milford, Ohio; NewStar Jewelers in Naperville, Illinois; Linde Meyer Gold & Silver in Philadelphia; Jack Kellemer’s in Haverford, Pennsylvania; Govberg’s in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania; Desinger and Dolan in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania; Tivol in Kansas City; Pearlmans Jewelers in Battle Creek, Michigan; David Nygaard Fine Jewelers in Virginia Beach; and Princess Jewelers in Burnsville, Minnesota.

Want to make sure your store is noticed in this online community with annual traffic of over 3 million unique visitors? Pricescope has a database of net-friendly jewelers. If you are willing to compete for the sale and to set diamonds purchased online, you can be listed: pricescope.net.

by Modern Jeweler Magazine

October is Right Hand Ring month, thanks to a promotion sponsored by Jewelry.com and the Diamond Promotion Service. What right hand ring style is most popular with consumers right now?

This right hand ring by Atomic Design Group was the most viewed of the 998 styles on www.ADiamondIsForever.com.

In fact, 3,101 consumers clicked on this design. Every year, 1.3 million fans of fine jewelry visit www.adiamondisforever.com and half of them browse through the styles in the design gallery. If you see any of the styles you carry in the gallery, make sure your vendor has you listed as a retail source.

Canada’s Northwest Territories has joined forces with Arslanian Cutting Works, Polar Diamond Group, Aurora College, the city of Yellowknife, and Northwest Territories Tourism to offer retailers an online resource to help them promote official Canadian-certified diamonds.

To join the club, you’ve got to take a “diamond intelligence test.”

If you pass, you’ll have access to Arctic-themed point-of-sale materials, co-op advertising, public and media relations help, diamond news, sales incentives, an impressive certificate signed by the premier of the Northwest Territories Joseph Handley (suitable for framing, no doubt), links from a Canadian diamond web site, and a personalized membership card.

It was a white night at the 2006 MTV Video Music Awards on August 31. Many of the stylish women wore white gowns and the men wore blinding amounts of white diamonds. Christina Aguilera was the best-dressed star in an old-Hollywood gown and Lorraine Schwartz triple diamond flower necklace valued at $550,000. Beyonce, too, chose a white gown and Lorraine Schwartz, wearing a 40 carat diamond bracelet valued at $100,000; and diamond ring valued at $90,000. Rihanna was stylish in white and jewelry from DVH by H. Stern: a diamond sutra bracelet valued at $130,000; diamond love knot earrings with pave diamonds valued at $25,000; and diamond right hand ring valued at $15,000. The Pussy Cat Dolls were dressed in solid gold, including gold jewelry by Robert Lee Morris, Irene Neuwirth, Maya Jewels and Barbara D’Oro. Despite his recent legal troubles, there was a lot of support for Jacob the Jeweler. Jay Z, Ludacris, Chris Brown, Pharrell and other men wore Jacob & Co diamond watches and pendants.