iPad to revolutionise supplier ops
Posted September 21, 2010 | By Lorna Goodyer
Already credited as possibly offering the future of retail store service, one jewellery photographer believes the iPad could revolutionise how suppliers operate too.
Conrad Vanecek, who catalogues product for Australian jewellery brands including Opals Australia, Cashelle and Ikecho Pearls for Jewels Australia, says the new technology has completely dispensed with the need for a paper portfolio.
He explains, “It’s a game changer in relation to paper.” With the iPad a sales rep can update their stock styles as soon as the stock becomes available, “whereas a paper-based catalogue is usually out of date before you print it”.
Vanecek said the advantage of the iPad, when combined with high-quality photography, was also how good it can make jewellery look because of its big screen, crisp display and high-resolution monitor, as well as the almost-fully-accurate colour calibration of the screen.
Vanecek, who showed the technology off to his clients for the first time at the Sydney trade fair, said suppliers had been impressed by the quality of the iPad viewing experience. “They were stunned by how beautiful their products were. Now they’re seeing them in all their original glory, but in my own hand walking around the fair.”
He added, “Instead of going around with a folio and little thumbnails and codes, now every image can be displayed beautifully.”
The other key benefit, according to Vanecek, is security. Sales reps who previously might have visited retailers with $500,000 of stock can now just carry a small sample. “You don’t have to take the whole range around. They can use the iPad to display the catalogues and go through the full categories.”
Vanecek has also been commissioned to create 20 videos, a medium he believes is “the next step”.
“It is somewhat more expensive, but for those with more classic styles the movie will last while that style is around,” he explained. “Now we’re getting to the point where you can see the whole piece without physically having to have it in front of you.”