How has jewelry retailing changed in the last 25 years?
Several changes have come about and we will discuss three of the most significant.
First price is the most apparent, jewelry has gone up considerably in value.
In 1969 the cost of a 1-point diamond was one dollar,
and the cost to mount it
into a piece of jewelry was the same.
Today the same size and quality diamond cost about 12 dollars,
and the labor to
set is 8 to 12 dollars.
That’s a whopping 1200% increase in price!
Second, it used to be that most independent jewelry retailers
would buy their
inventory from jobbers.
A jobber is a company who sets itself up to distribute for several manufactures
and importers who specialized in selling to volume buyers.
A jobber worked on a 35% to a 50% mark up and sometimes higher.
Gradually the manufacturers and importers started experiencing
problems with the
larger buyers.
These jewelry chain stores, department stores
and large discount chain stores
stopped paying on time.
Some had experienced reorganizations (bankruptcies).
This made the smaller independent jeweler more attractive especially those that
paid on time.
It didn’t take long for the independent jewelers to catch on and buy direct.
The biggest change was the elimination of the jobbers mark up,
bringing better prices to the consumer from independents whom already had lower
overheads.
Thirdly, an alarming trend in the lowering of the quality of jewelry in retail showcases.
The overall quality of products has dropped since 1969
and in the last 10 years
has plummeted.
That is very disturbing to those of us who understand quality.
Another factor that concerns us greatly is the non-disclosure
of this low quality
merchandise to the consumer.
Because of this, we put into place a store policy of telling our customers
what quality they own before we take in their jewelry for repair or remount.
Because we sell high quality jewelry for the same price
that others sell low quality jewelry we created a new slogan.
“WE MAKE QUALITY AFFORDABLE”