What is your brand’s philosophy?
To work with retail partners in order to increase the profile of Australian opal in both the local and international market.
Why did you decide to develop a brand rather than sell unbranded jewellery?
We wanted to educate the end consumer about Australian opal jewellery, and believed that creating a brand was one of the most effective ways to achieve this.
What are the benefits for retailers stocking your brand?
Our reseller program provides numerous support tools and services. These include (but are not limited to) a variety of display stands, fantastic easy-to-follow training materials for staff education, a large selection of professional photography to be used as advertising support and a website that holds thousands of jewellery designs for easy ordering.
The Opals Australia website provides online ordering options for both the trade and end consumer. While our website for the general public provides recommended retail pricing, the trade-only website provides wholesale pricing via a secure user log in.
What challenges did you face when introducing a new brand to Australia?
The main challenge we faced was competition with existing brands. Both established Australian and international brands have a larger budget for promoting designs to the general public and to new business partners.
Do you think there are characteristics that make a brand distinctly Australian?
Every opal used in our jewellery has been sourced from Australia! Need I say more?
What is it about those characteristics that gives your brand appeal in the market?
Historically, Australia has produced 95 per cent of the world’s opal supply. Each opal is unique and no two gemstones are ever the same. We source opals from various regions throughout the country. For example, light (white) opal comes from opal producing regions surrounding Coober Pedy, South Australia and black opal is from mines surrounding Lightning Ridge, NSW.
What distinguishes your brand from competitors?
We are a full-service opal jewellery wholesaler with in-house jewellers. We maintain a range of more than 1,000 jewellery designs in 18-carat gold, 14-carat gold and sterling silver. Our large inventory levels also allow retailers to choose designs in a variety of colours and patterns. All products are backed with a three-year replacement warranty upon natural cracking of the opal, and a five-year warranty on any manufacturing faults and defects.
The brand also has a rich heritage, having been founded by opal pioneer Les Taylor in 1929. Les continued to work in the opal industry until the age of about 94. He passed away in 2014 just two months shy of his 101st birthday.
What have been some major achievements for the brand?
Over the last three years we have increased the number of domestic retailers that have taken our brand on board by 25 per cent, per year. Retail stores that cater to inbound tourists have also gone from strength to strength, with the number of Chinese tourists visiting Australia continuing to increase (Tourism Australia forecasts a 9 per cent growth rate in Chinese tourists until 2017/18).
What’s been your most innovative marketing campaign?
We developed a campaign based on the core principle that Opals Australia was a market leader. This was emphasised with the tagline, “We Set The Market” and supported through a constant release of new products. The campaign has been used in various formats such as trade publications, Instagram and Facebook.
What’s next? How will the brand evolve?
We have big plans for 2015, some of which include investigating how we can improve our website, increasing our offering of one-off designer Australian opal jewellery designs as well as providing more product information for retailers and consumers. One-off designer pieces will now be listed on our website with multiple view photography and video options.
In addition, we will be further emphasising the fact that our opals are genuine Australian opals and offering more education regarding our product specifications such as descriptions and warranty information. Each one of our pieces that is sold with an Opals Australia jewellery box comes with a jewellery care card, warranty information and a guarantee that all opals used have been mined in Australia.
What’s your favorite product from the latest collection?
Definitely the Enya, which is Celtic for “little fire”. The 18-carat white gold pendant features an Australian black opal from Lighting Ridge.
What is your brand’s philosophy?
To work with retail partners in order to increase the profile of Australian opal in both the local and international market.
Why did you decide to develop a brand rather than sell unbranded jewellery?
We wanted to educate the end consumer about Australian opal jewellery, and believed that creating a brand was one of the most effective ways to achieve this.
What are the benefits for retailers stocking your brand?
Our reseller program provides numerous support tools and services. These include (but are not limited to) a variety of display stands, fantastic easy-to-follow training materials for staff education, a large selection of professional photography to be used as advertising support and a website that holds thousands of jewellery designs for easy ordering.
The Opals Australia website provides online ordering options for both the trade and end consumer. While our website for the general public provides reco