What is Virtual Inventory and How do you utilize it?

How much virtual inventory is on your site?

Do you give your retailers and consumers, as a supplier the ability to see all of your products online?

Branding your product and directing potential consumers to your retailers is a great way to utilize all of that web traffic. Just make sure the process is a simple click away from the consumer being able to make a purchase.

Have you thought about virtual distribution to your retailers? It could help you to save a lot of money and increase sales for your retailers.

As a retailer, do you give your consumers the ability to see all of your custom collections and brand’s, virtual inventory online?

Why not?

Think about it people want to research before they buy. What can they see on your website?

This article can help you to understand the importance of an online presence as well as one of the largest parts of the formula…virtual inventory.

What is virtual inventory?

Virtual inventory is created when a photo and information on an item is uploaded to the internet. The media and information can be as simple as a cliff note or as extensive as the entire history of a piece.

Virtual inventory is everywhere and having some is critical.

It grants someone the ability to see and learn about an item without having it physically in front of them.

Think of it as the new “Brass & Glass” for the digital age. The cost to show virtual inventory is basically nothing once a system is in place. Customers can view virtual inventory via a web site,  social network, video, in-store kiosk, mobile device, etc. If interest is expressed in an item, that item can be quickly shipped to the store to complete the purchase. An added benefit is that the item can be sent from supplier to retailer in the correct metal, size, and stone type as requested by the customer upon digital inspection … It’s inventory On Demand.

Typically suppliers create virtual inventory and package it up on their website. This forces the retailer to link to the supplier’s web site in order to show the inventory to their customers. Although this is an easy route for the retailer and good for the supplier it forces the customer to navigate many sites in order to find something of interest leaving the customer lost and frustrated.

Some retailers take the initiative to add a supplier’s digital content to their own site manually. This can take time and more often than not ends up being presented in a way where the supplier is not happy with how the final presentation ended up. This is a big reason why suppliers have rules on putting their digital content on a retailer’s website. Some don’t even allow it.

These rules and practices only hurt the sale of an item. People buy what they see and if an item is hard to find it limits its chances of ending up on a screen of an interested buyer, and these days … screens are everywhere.

Independent retail jewelers have an advantage over e-tailers. They can get away with supplying less information on an item as they are generally reaching a local base which is more likely to come into the store to purchase and learn more than to buy it online. This concept is one we have learned from working with independent stores and is a major concept within our GemFind Network and expressed to the end consumer through the GemFind Master Link.

Independent retail jewelers don’t have to sell online to be successful. Many who do sell online see online sales represent a very small percentage of their sales. However, there is one very powerful reality to understand. You don’t have to sell online but you need to be online. There is a difference which many do not understand. Online presence is required.

Its 2012 wake up and smell the information floating in the air … its everywhere and if you are not in it where are you?

The GemFind Network has a simple goal. We focus on the relationship between the independent retailer and their suppliers and how that relationship can become stronger with the added support of virtual inventory distribution.

Beyond that we are able to track the performance of inventory across all systems. This allows the retailer to understand in real time what they should be physically stocking based on click demand. For the supplier they are able to see their product performance across all of their retailer’s systems to help them create better selections to choose from. This level of connectivity and reporting helps every entity within the distribution channel. All the way down to the end customer who is essentially creating the demand from the bottom up. Consumer demand has always been a driving factor in determining what is created for sale. We are just utilizing new concepts and tools to make it easier to listen.

These days, you have to be agile. Being able to effectively listen to your audience in real time and quickly adjust what you offer is powerfully essential.

The jewelry industry is waking up to a new world full of tools made to empower them.

The way in which very small and expensive goods have been distributed is obsolete. Its time to cut down the risk, reign in the cost, and focus on selling what people want.