Using E-Tail to Build Real Relationships

It’s official – Ecommerce had its best holiday season ever, and Main Street jewelry stores are reaping the benefits.

Mastercard SpendingPulse, which reports on national retail sales across all payment types in select
markets around the world, says that ecommerce grew 18.3% year-over-year in the period from Nov. 1 through Dec 19.

Just as impressive is how well the ecommerce jewelry sector fared. Mastercard noted that jewelry sales online grew 9.4% year-over-year during that period.

Pair that data with stats from Adobe that says click and collect sales (buy online pickup in store (BOPIS)) were up at least 47% from Nov. 1 to Dec. 19, and we see a trend that Main Street jewelers can invest in. Before you say, “BOPIS,” I’m thinking a little different: Reserve online pickup in store. ROPIS instead of BOPIS.

Ecommerce seems to be an impersonal sales channel, but when done right, Main Street jewelers can use ROPIS to build a real-time relationship with new customers.

Picture the opportunity

A millennial decides it is time to pop the question. He has a vague idea of what his bride may like, but doesn’t know the first thing about diamond cuts, clarity, or color. He knows that she doesn’t like yellow gold, but he isn’t sure if white gold, platinum, or sterling silver is the best substitute.

The prospective groom (and prospective customer) is an online shopper, but he’s not sure he wants to make quite the hefty investment without seeing and feeling what he’s going to buy. He also wants to deal with an actual human being with jewelry expertise, but doesn’t have a lot of time outside the 9-to-5 workday to find himself a jeweler.

An online presence gives the consumer the best of both worlds: The customer can search the online inventory at a local jewelry store and – for a deposit as little as $1 – reserve the settings, diamonds, and rings he’d like to inspect with a loupe.

While ROPIS doesn’t guarantee a sale, it does assure a face-to-face interaction with a customer who is interested in doing business with you. When the customer comes to your store, this is your chance to make him a buyer, tell him about protection plans, and even spend more money than he would have online.

You’ve turned someone who may have not known your store existed into a well-educated jewelry shopper, all because you invested in reserve online pickup in store technology. Also, if your ecommerce site includes a plugin to allow a prospective customer to book an appointment
online, you’ll be better prepared time-wise to sit down and talk all about engagement rings.

Learning more

Would you like to know more about using ecommerce to drive business to your jewelry store? Make sure you stop by the all new E-Tail Pavilion at the Atlanta Jewelry Show, March 2-4.

Sessions at the E-Tail Pavilion will focus on the fundamentals of ecommerce as well – from choosing the right ecommerce platform to getting started on marketplaces from Amazon to Etsy to social media as a driver of ecommerce.

In anticipation of the show, I’d like to know a little more about where you are in your ecommerce journey. Would you mind taking this survey, so you can help me help you? The link to the survey can be found here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/5PR69D2.