What are the requirements for joining your buying group?
The Independent Jewellers Collective (IJC) is partnering with Australia’s finest proactive jewellery retailers.
With no sign-up fees or lock-in contracts, we are welcoming partners with the highest ethical standards and professional integrity Australia-wide.
All applicants are required to satisfy a standard credit application.
At the time of application, we request a store logo to be provided so we can provide marketing assistance if requested.
What are the benefits of becoming a member of your buying group?
We’ve come a long way since our group was formed in 2020. The most significant change for IJC partners would be in our support of custom jewellery design.
We have focused on developing a complete toolkit to support our stores in this space. This includes physical ‘printed’ marketing point of sale support, digital marketing support, eCommerce support and database communications.
In April, we will add the final piece of the puzzle, which is a fully integrated natural and lab-created diamond inventory on store websites as an in-house sales and quoting tool.
This is a game changer for our partners and something we’ve worked tirelessly on.
We empower independent retailers to engage with their customers in unique and innovative ways, partnering with specialists in different fields to bring them the most up-to-date expertise and assistance.
IJC offers its partners structured annual visits from our management team to assist them with key areas of modern retailing and marketing.
Our team also provides ongoing training and development throughout the year. Retailers can refer to our website for a complete list of benefits.
What costs are associated with membership in your buying group?
Our membership fee is only $79 per month. This fee contributes to our extensive marketing and operational support. It also includes an annual membership with the National Retailers Association to provide specialist legal and human resources (HR) support.
IJC is unique in the marketplace as we give back transparent rebates on all centrally billed purchases - known as the IJC Vault - to utilise our extensive menu of services.
This includes computer-assisted design (CAD), marketing, and business services, typically providing them thousands of dollars annually to directly assist retailers to increase sales and reduce costs.
What kinds of promotional support does your buying group offer members?
We want to help our partners attract the right customers by offering simple, consistent, modern styling and messaging that connects with their target customers.
We are specialists in jewellery marketing and offer our stores a full-service model that includes print and digital.
We also offer subscription services that focus on bespoke jewellery design. These include a website maintenance package, social media support, direct marketing (EDM) support, and training. We also offer a turnkey Shopify website solution for our partners.
In what ways does your buying group support local jewellery manufacturers?
IJC works exclusively with our preferred supply partner network. We collaborate with several local manufacturing partners to create exclusive collections and product ranges for IJC.
IJC has the extensive infrastructure to allow us to promote local supplier products directly to our stores via our own B2B platform and partner dashboard. All these initiatives drive purchases for our local jewellery manufacturers and wholesalers, which is the best support we can offer the industry.
What makes membership with your buying group a unique experience/opportunity?
We have a simple business model that rewards our partners every time they utilise our network of preferred suppliers with our exclusive IJC Vault of retail services.
IJC partners also gain access to our bespoke communications dashboard and Ezi-Billing portal that links directly with MYOB and Xero.
We offer tailored marketing solutions specific to each partner’s demographic and store design.
Our partners have access to extensive hands-on staff and management training and an online training portal not offered elsewhere in the industry.
We also provide exclusive jewellery ranges, and brand offers only to IJC partners.
We have recently expanded our offer to include an exclusive CAD design and rendering service to complement our bespoke jewellery marketing support package.
What significant events does your buying group have planned for the coming year?
We have a truly exciting 2025 calendar planned for IJC partners.
As always, IJC will align with the jewellery fairs in February, April, and August of this year and host educational conferences for our retailers that precede these buying events.
Additionally, we are excited to host a special fifth birthday celebration in April with our preferred suppliers and retailers.
It will be an event to thank them for their support over the past five years.
Importantly, we are also offering our first international ‘Retail Experience Conference’ in Los Angeles and Las Vegas ahead of the JCK Jewellery Fair.
This conference will give our stores special insights into modern jewellery retail and marketing best practices.
We are also launching some significant initiatives in eCommerce and custom jewellery design this year, which is a culmination of the past five years of work.
Finally, as always, we will continue our planned state visits and one-on-one time with our stores.