Are You Selling Watches Over Jewelry?
July 29, 2008
At least one to two people a week come into my store asking for watches. It may be that there are not too many jewelry stores that sell watches in my area. It may be because watches serve a purpose other than just being a piece of jewelry. Being said that—I am hoping to bring in a couple watch lines. Are you selling watches over jewelry or are sales slow all around because of the time of year? What percentage of the stores sales should be attributed to watches? Have watch customers become your diamond customers? Do watches bring more men into to your store?
Posted by Shanu Singh Guliani on July 29, 2008 |
Comments (2)
July 31, 2008
In response to:
Are You Selling Watches Over Jewelry?Mall Jewelry Boy commented:
I've noticed three types of watch-carrying jewelers. 1. The first
type carries watches as a convenience (to customers). They tend to
carry one to three of the big mid-market brands (Seiko, Citizen,
Bulova), and sometimes will carry one lower-end line (Pulsar,
Caravelle) and/or one moderately priced Swiss brand. These jewelers
tend to have low(er) inventory levels and also are the first to
toss out lines when needing to pare down inventory. Their watch
selection mimics a mall jewelry store. I've also seen the
higher-end jeweler version of this, with a small selection of a few
Mechanical or Automatic lesser-known Swiss watches. If you don't
care enough to stock a good collection of styles, destination
customers will go somewhere where they can find a good selection.
2. The second type of timepiece-selling jeweler uses the watch
cases primarily to build the prestige of the store and borrow on
the watch brands' image. These stores love popular brands (TAG
Heuer, Omega, etc.), dream of Rolex, and tend to offer a large
selection of a few Swiss brands. This jeweler tends to mimic the
better "
July 31, 2008
In response to:
Are You Selling Watches Over Jewelry?Mall Jewelry Boy commented:
This jeweler tends to mimic the better "guild"-type jewelry stores.
3. The third type of jeweler uses watches to draw in traffic and
also to beef up sales. This jeweler will pour resources into their
watch lines and carry many different brands, the majority being
higher-end Swiss. This is also the jeweler who tends to have
territorial exclusivity of a national brand, and makes sure
potential customers know that. This jeweler's selection is large
enough to actually have a "Timepiece Boutique" within their store.
When considering watches, I'd also keep in mind what Terry Burman
of Signet said when questioned about the watch-intensive offerings
in the UK compared to the US. He noted that in the US, the primary
watch sellers are department stores, while in the UK watches are
sold primarily by jewelers. Watches suck up a lot of open-to-buy,
are extremely easy to price compare, and don't have as high a
profit margin as jewelry. However, they bring a lot of the feel and
voice of their own brand to the store, adding elements of fashion
and luxury to the store.
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