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Couture...No Longer Exclusive!
April 3, 2007
A month ago, one of my vendors expressed to me how pissed off he was that this years Couture Show, in Vegas, no longer requires “a member’s only jacket.”
At that time, I didn’t think much of his ranting. I was just excited to be able to attend Couture. If we weren’t carrying any designers from Couture, I still wished to see, for myself, what all the “hype” was about. Rumor has it that Couture used to be a $200,000 buy-in show. Basically, if you didn’t spend that kind of cash you weren’t invited.
A month later, a couple more of my vendors and even friends mentioned Couture’s new “VIP for all" decision. Couture states, “We are responding to the needs of our community, and opening our doors to qualified retailers who understand and appreciate the importance of being where the best is.”
First I thought, who cares, more jewelers…more people to network with—always a plus. But then I realized…if most jewelers were now allowed to attend Couture, more financially secure jewelers would ask and want to keep the same brands that were once only being offered to a select few?
Down and dirty…more jewelers in your neighborhood might be carrying those same lines. I see those exclusivity rights dwindling. The reason I think my vendor was so angry was that now their brand “ceases to be special.”
Do you think this year’s show is going to make you hunt for those exclusive lines even more?Maybe a private label brand is the way to go? Those no name brands that lack on marketing but carry beautiful goods and the buy-ins aren’t so off the wall…well it might be time to seek out more of those types of vendors?
Posted by Shanu Singh Guliani on April 3, 2007 | Comments (2)
