Nationwide Jewellers group will announce a new online and ecommerce option for its members at its annual conference in Darwin next week.
Nationwide, Australia and New Zealand’s largest buying group with 513 stores, has created a website template that can be customised for individual retailers and be automatically modified to reflect the brands that a store stocks.
“Quite a few members have been saying they want a good website, and some have gone and done it themselves, which costs quite a lot of money,” Nationwide Director Colin Pocklington told Jeweller. “This is a better than the average website and is much cheaper.”
Nationwide is offering two website options for its members. One will enable retailers to simply establish an online presence and showcase the brands it stocks, while a premium option will also offer an online shopping outlet.
While all retailer pages will share a similar design, there are many ways they will differ in content and aesthetics.
“Although they are all the same site technically, they all look different, with a varying mix of branded logo and product on the screen,” Pocklington said. “Stock displayed online will also change automatically with the seasons, and that takes all the work away from the member.”
The stock displayed on a retailer’s website will also be automatically loaded, and although Nationwide stocks 25 brands, individual retailer sites will only display brands that the particular store stocks.
“The other buying groups have got great websites, there’s no doubt about that,” Pocklington added. “The beauty in ours is we have flexibility and automation with changing the brands for every retailer. That takes a lot of the cost out. Retailers who have their own website usually have got to go in with code and change the product display individually.”
Retailers can further personalise the site by providing their own photos and information about their store.
“Each site has a structure, with a picture of the store owner and their shop,” Pocklington said. “They can also have their own photos and a gallery of their own stock, like things they’ve made themselves, and special pieces that just they are stocking.”
The premium ecommerce option is also an exciting prospect for retailers with an eye on winning back some of the jewellery market lost to online shopping. Just as with the website template, Nationwide will host the online store and adapt the product offering to what the individual retailer stocks, as well as handling the purchase transactions.
Pocklington said the idea to create a group-wide online store with separate retail outlets came from realising the real cost for retailers to create their own online store.
“There have been some stores that say they want ecommerce, but if you want to do it yourself it’s probably going to cost $10,000,” Pocklington explained. “Then there is all the work maintaining it, getting bank approvals and all sorts of things. It’s lot harder and more complex than people realise, and for a one off shop it’s not viable. For a fraction of that price, with this product they can get an online shop fully maintained by us and still make a good margin.”
Pocklington expected the first member websites to roll out in July.
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