As jewelry stores begin to prep for this holiday season, they are facing another new challenge showcasing beautiful jewelry pieces and reaching the amount of clients they used to have bustling through their front door. As jewelry brands are creating heightened online consumer experiences, independent jewelers are tasked with doing the same.
Fortunately, this holiday more than ever, is going to have people not just shopping online, but reading reviews, comparing prices, booking virtual appointments, and generally weighing all of their options before they make a decision. As an independent jewelry store, creating that personalized experience and guiding customers to choose the perfect gift must now also be translated online if you haven't in years past.
As a jewelry store retailer with an e-commerce website, you’ll need to do everything you can to keep your jewelry website front-of-mind with consumers in your area and present them with a range of options while highlighting the very best that your store has to offer beyond just "adding to cart" and checking out.
Here’s how to shift your merchandising focus from the cases to online (which will certainly be getting more traffic this season!):
Your website, social media channels and email list, are all perfect avenues to promote your jewelry pieces for holiday gifts. How you do this is just as important as your competition will also be optimizing their online presence for the holiday.
Jewelry retailers have more and more options at their disposal to engage in personalized promotions and innovative marketing initiatives. Keeping up on the latest marketing strategies is going to be crucial in order to make this holiday season a successful one.
The good news is that because there are more options at your disposal, there are some great promotional strategies that will definitely stand out and get noticed by your target audience and create a buzz this holiday.
One of the most one-on-one avenues you have for promoting gift ideas this holiday season is one of the oldest promotional methods online (if not THE oldest) -- email marketing. Rather than clogging up your client list's email inboxes with big, high resolution images, instead direct them to your website, where they can navigate seamlessly and check out what you have put together for them to shop this season. Once on your website, your visitors should be welcomed by neatly laid out, easy to navigate gift categories.
For example, put jewelry selections together just as your clients shop in the store -- Gifts for Her (diamond pendants, studs, stackable rings) or Gifts for Him (watches, bands etc.).
Segmenting jewelry products into price categories works great as well for consumers looking to spend a certain amount per gift (i.e. Our Favorite Gifts Under $500, Our Favorite Gifts Under $1000)
Facebook Ads, when done right, can be a valuable promotional tool in your arsenal. Carousel ads, in particular, with their ability to showcase several pieces in an exciting way, helps capture the user’s attention right as they’re scrolling, and invites them to view several gift ideas right on Facebook.
Like suggesting gift ideas via email, carousel ads can likewise be targeted to different segments, such as your current client list or a target audience that typically visits your store or website.
Another Facebook feature to utilize is hosting a Facebook live event, showcasing some products, speaking to the details and offering curbside pickup for your local customers. Typically in the evening when consumers are on their social media accounts anyway, broadcast to them live and answer questions and get in the holiday spirit while showcasing your jewelry gift ideas!
There is nothing beneficial for an independent jeweler to list a jewelry brand you carry on your website, only to direct visitors off of your website and onto the vendors site.
Fortunately, GemFind Digital Solutions, works with over 150 high end jewelry brands to curate current product assortments through our JewelCloud platform, and empower independent jewelers to make sales from their own website.
Also, new for 2020, GemFind has created a cutting edge Stuller Showcase Plug-In for all approved Stuller retailers to offer a drop-ship option, making it even easier for jewelry retailers to become active and profitable converting sales this holiday season online.
Online Look Books are gaining in popularity and rightfully so. Once used solely by bloggers and Instagram influencers, Look Books are an online catalog of images, designed to reflect a certain product offering for a specific time. Some beautifully merchandised photos and lifestyle imagery can feature multiple pieces of jewelry for holiday gifts.
To learn more about how strategies like these can be developed specifically for your store and help you prepare to merchandise this holiday season, contact us at GemFind Digital Solutions. We can work with you to devise a proven marketing plan of action that delivers a phenomenal experience for your users and profitable results.