Running a jewellery business is one thing and ensuring the business is adaptive to the changing times is another. KIZER & BENDER provide useful tips on using ideas to improve sales.
When things were “normal” before the pandemic, customers shopped in strange patterns and their choices were not divided equally among retailers.
That hasn’t changed much, so if you want to attract more customers you need to do more.
You have competition everywhere vying for customers’ attention. What are you doing about it? Opening your doors is not enough, you need to be ready with events on your retail calendar.
Plan events & promotions
A ‘re-open’ open house is a good idea and so is a grand re-opening. Consider the holidays and plan for them. If you sell online or via social media, you also need to make a plan for them. Keep going and add events for each month of the year.
Plan each event, buy products, as needed, and get your staff involved. Remember, in-store events do not automatically equate to having a sale, although that’s an option. You can do demos, seminars, trunk shows, pop-ups, supplier days – your options are endless.
Retrain your staff
You can’t do everything by yourself; you need a strong team to back you up.
Be specific about what you need and upfront about what is required to do the job. Sanitising the store and reinforcing mask mandates may linger for a while and your staff must know what is expected of them.
Don’t hold back, it’s time to sell. Hold training sessions about products and deliver exemplary customer service when you can’t always see the customer’s face.
Update your team frequently with what’s happening in-store and commit to a training schedule that lasts all year long. Adopt a ‘buddy system’ and partner new staff with seasoned pros to mentor them as they learn the business.
Create a ‘never out’ list
Every jeweller should have a ‘Never Out’ list of things you always have in stock. During peak times of the year, this list takes on an even larger significance when stock runs out and you realise these items can literally make or break a sale.
Your POS system may create this list for you, but make sure to do frequent stock counts on the sales floor to ensure your list is correct.
Sell gift cards
Gift cards are your secret weapons. Yes, gift CARDS. That’s because a study found retailers who switch from paper gift certificates to plastic gift cards increase card sales from 35 per cent to 50 per cent.
There’s more: 55 per cent of gift card recipients take more than one shopping trip to spend the card’s balance– that’s good news.
But beware, a gift card or certificate that’s presented in a boring paper sleeve or envelope doesn’t look like much, even if it’s for big bucks, so package your gift cards with a unique look to what you sell.
Since many shoppers prefer contactless transactions these days, offer electronic gift cards also.
Competitive return policies
If your competitors accept returns and exchanges but your policy screams “NO!”, customers will go someplace else to shop. If you don’t have a return policy here’s a good place to start: “Returns and exchanges gladly accepted within ‘X’ days. Your receipt guarantees it.”
You’ll save more sales if you train staff to politely suggest an exchange or a gift card before offering a refund. Note that during the pandemic many retailers chose to extend return windows.
Prepare for markdowns
You have products sitting on shelves for the 60+ days your store was closed – probably even months before that – so, a clearance strategy is important. Packing stock away for sale next year is never a good idea and trying to sell past-season merchandise at the full price doesn’t look good, either.
A markdown plan for every product line is a smart idea. You need to determine which merchandise will be discounted, by how much, how it will be signed (numbers work better than percentages), and where it will be displayed on the sales floor.
Unless you are having a big sale, displaying clearance items near the back of the store, allow shoppers to pass through new product displays to get to it.
Getting exhausted from reading this? Being a retail jeweller has always meant long hours, juggling tasks, and putting out fires. Add in selling online, social media marketplaces, and keeping updated on the pandemic gives you a lot of new things to do.
Trust us, having a game plan makes it easier.
