New website to clear old stock for jewellers

Posted June 28, 2011 | By Sonia Nair

Jewellers struggling to clear old stock will soon be able to combat that problem through an online portal exclusively designed for jewellery retailers in Australia and New Zealand.

The website, JewelLover, has been conceived by Queensland-based consultancy Jewellery Marketing Solutions and will launch in Australia in late July. It offers jewellers the opportunity to clear old stock through an innovative price-dropping concept.

Jewellers that have joined the site will be required to list their products on JewelLover at their retail price, specifying what price they want their product to start at and the lowest ‘reserve’ price they’ll accept for their product.

The website’s business model is that of a ’Dutch auction’ – the price of the product will be dropped by increments of 1 per cent during a time frame chosen by the seller – such as every minute, 30 minutes or 60 minutes – as a clock counts down. The product will continue to be discounted until it is sold or reaches its reserve.

Jewellery Marketing Solutions launched the initiative at last week’s Edge Down Under conference, and 40 jewellery stores have already signed up to use the website.

Jewellery Marketing Solutions co-founder Tony Argyle said the online portal was well received at the conference, and believes it will hold advantages for independent jewellers in particular.

“Jewellers have been very enthusiastic as they see an immediate benefit in it helping to clear old stock, but the real long-term benefit is the ability for JewelLover to become a powerful online marketing tool and a means for small stores to attract new clients that they may struggle to attract by themselves,” Argyle said.

The first jewellers to join the website in their buying group membership area will receive a six-month exclusive option for their area and each jeweller will be provided with their own page on JewelLover, profiling their product and providing store details that jewellers direct their customers to.

Jewellers will be able to maintain their exclusivity over an area for a minimum of six months provided they offer between 80 and 100 products on JewelLover.

The launch of the website will also coincide with an eight-hour ‘Clicks and Bricks’ promotion where each product listed during the eight hours will drop in price every minute. Website members will be provided with complimentary marketing material, press releases and templates to help them advertise the promotion.

Argyle said JewelLover will help small jewellery retailers attract interstate customers as well as local consumers who may not normally feel comfortable buying online from a retailer they are not familiar with.

“With a local store, [consumers] are more confident and they can come in and view the items while they are being promoted. It is difficult for independent jewellers to compete online by themselves but through JewelLover they can be part of a much larger internet presence,” Argyle said.

Argyle said trial runs of the website have proved that the progressively reduced prices are addictive for consumers.

“[Consumers] are fascinated by the urge to wait in case it gets cheaper, but they don’t know who else is watching and waiting as well,” Argyle said.

“It’s good for jewellers as they will get the maximum amount for the item, rather than just setting a fixed price, when it could have sold for more,” he added.

More information:
New e-classes for jewellery retailers
Benefits of social media for jewellers