Where Are the Jewelers in All This???

to many garbage goods in very poorly made rings and to many watches that have high tickets and low resale value and to many
jewelers who sell retail whosale buy puting a different lab to get better results thanks for listening

JCK has gone so far downhill. Like most retail jewelers the magazine and the blogs are just reinventing a wheel that is already broken. I cant wait for some trade publication to step out of the box and stop kissing the vendors asses. The vendors the banks and the big "Designers" got us in as much trouble as the rest of the country. We are over inventoried and over leveraged. (Just look at David Nygard). When some one our there starts preaching something worth reading I will participate. For now I am enjoying the silly drivel your magazine has put out lately. In the past JCK was the best reading about the trade there was. I really looked forward to every issue. Now all I see is cheap product that you are trying to shove down our throats. I recently spoke with a very succesfull jeweler who is an old friend. He said he no longer goes to shows or reads trade magazines because they just try to get him to buy inventory he cant sell.
Here is what retail jewelers want to know.
How to get people in the door.
Hey thanks for asking.

I know a lot of retailers who apple pick which articles they want to read and those are the ones they show to their staff. In truth, almost all JCK articles and blogs contain valuable information that cannot be overlooked. Many retailers who I have worked for do not even read the magazine articles yet still pay for the subscription. I end up taking them all home to read and giving everyone the cliff notes version. I really think they have forgotten how good the content is and how much benefit they can gain from reading the srticles. Not many industries out there have such a great feature. When you stop educating yourself, you will loose your competitive edge.

Jeffrey, We are here...(at least i am) we are busy running small understaffed businesses and its hard to find time for all the great blogs..... We have been taught to be good listeners in our business.... we listen to you....' we hear you..... we appreciate the help...... we can understand the frustration that sometimes it seems no one is listening because they don't answer..... keep up the good work and hang in there!

Hello Mr.Jeffrey Skaret,It's my pleasure I am writing to introduce myself to you Irrespective of my business proposal. I am a Gambian ,Consultant in metal(Gold /Diamond.I also have my own Hotel established ,I also engage in small scale mining of AU Gold and Diamond in countries like Sierra Leone,Mali and Angola.Due to my 18 years of experience into the business,I have travel in places like Belgium, Germany,Paris, Switzerland and Saudi Arabia to name but a few off courses the U.S is my second home land. I am contacting you irrespective of having business proposal with you or,co-ordinate, partnership in my business which is really successful. I likely want to have a business with you,please if you are interested I will like us to have discussion for further more, you can contact me on my email; mrtouraysaikou@gmail.com or post a comment on my BLOGS www.just4youguesthouse.blogspot.com thanks and looking forward hearing from you . S.H Touray CEO

I think many retailers are too busy or wrapped up in their own business to comment on these kinds of things. We tend to act and react with our business decisions more than with responses on websites and blogs. That doesn't mean we aren't interested or don't care, but we have to handle things a our store level, where the business meets us and where we can have an influence. I, for one, have never written or commented on anything like this before, but I do read them from time to time and find them interesting. Here, I was sucked in by Jeffrey's blog title wondering where the retailers are. There are lots of things changing in our industry and necessarily so right now. I can tell you that companies who don't offer service and product to make my business life easier will not be getting my business in the future. That's just the way it is. I don't have time to mess around doing the work of a supplier in my store. I see them as integral to my success, but they have to participate in it as well. They won't be handed anything from me.

I am a retail Jeweler, who does not normaly read these blogs, as I can't aford to get sucked in - I am too busy and too involved in the industry now. I am the guy who 3+ years ago started the "new attitude" security program for the traveling reps. I have had to beg and plead with reps to help themselves be safer. I have refered/connected dozens of rep-vendor relationships. Look, I care . . most retailers care about the reps, but during these very tuff times things begin to surface that strain relationships. The old phrase "1 bad apple" comes to mind". I see it this way, there are many great vendors to work for, and many great reps . . . with that said, there are many reps who act like there in the game, but are not realy doing the job, likewise there are vendors who take advantage of reps . . . some who cheat there reps by not disclosing phone orders and the such . . all to avoid paying commissions. It is simple, the true winners, the people who invested when times were great will survive - there is just no room for poor quality Vendors, Reps, and retailers . . . many just lie to themselves about being a winner. "THE WORLD IS NOT DIVIDED BETWEEN THOSE WHO CAN OR CAN'T, IT IS DIVIDED BETWEEN THOSE WHO DO OR DON'T"

Maybe I was a little upset with my response,but the retail jeweler is one of the last survivors in a sea of big box retailers, why, once again service, quality, knowledge and value. As a 30yr road veteran it's tough to see what currently going on in our industry. The next level of success will be small focused companies supplying the needs of there customers, rather than dictating. Jeffrey, your comment was right on, why are the retailers not interested or involved,they do not care, let them deal with China direct for that 1 special order and the attitude will change.

Jeffrey, JCK has a magazine because of the vendor ad revenue. I recently read that JCK went through some down-sizing, do you think vendor ad revenue is down? As for the jeweler response, they don't care, but they will miss us when we are gone.

I am a retailer who reads these blogs daily. I do respond and I appreciate the opportunity to respond anonymously. You also make it very easy to respond, unlike some other blogs and forums that I read. Blogs that are updated frequently, of course, are more likely to engage the reader. JCK has a wonderful variety of topics covered by these blogs, and it's to be expected that each reader finds certain blogs to be of more interest than others.

Jennifer, that's great the core reader of JCK is the retail jeweler. That seems all the more reason they should be interested in the full scope of their business within the whole of the industry, including how vendors and reps interact with them and choose to do business with them. I am hopeful to engage some of those core readers in a dialogue, whether it be anonymous on their part or not. Thanks for the comment.

Hi Jeff, The the bulk of JCK content "is geared toward the celebrating or betterment of the retail jeweler" because the retail jeweler is our core reader, just as the manufacturer and/or designer is the primary reader of the MJSA Journal. To read some JCK articles about vendor-retailer relationships, search for these article titles on JCKonline: "Which Way to Brand?" and "Bad Business." There is one other, published in our Luxury book, which isn't online. I can email that one to you if you like, just let me know. Also, JCK editorial is ALWAYS open to article suggestions--we love them, in fact!--so long as they aim to help the retail jeweler in some way. Feel free to give us your pitches. As far as comments on the blog, editors hear comments quite often offline. Many in industry, it seems, are reluctant to post public comments. I agree with you in wanting to see more people join in the conversations. Perhaps our readers could weigh in, even if only anonymously or with very short suggestions, on how JCK bloggers could create more engaged readers?