JCK Luxury: Seal of Disapproval Continuing with Your Thoughts
In JCK Luxury Winter 2008 issue Jennifer Heebner and Carrie Soucy wrote a very interesting article regarding country of origin (COO). Their article starts with a story of a man returning a piece of jewelry because he saw a made in China sticker that was on the box—but assumed the jewelry was made in China and requested a refund.
Some of my customer’s do ask where our store’s products are made and we do disclose the information as part of the sales presentation. While we don’t openly say we sell pieces manufactured in Hong Kong, China, USA, etc—if someone asks I’d be more than happy to find out if I don’t know. (I hate to say it but I don’t always ask where a product is made as long as the quality is good).
What I didn’t know is retailers are required by law to keep the COO tags on the product until it is sold to the consumer. Some of the manufacturers I buy form do have little tags which specify COO, but we remove them while retagging the item with our new skew and price. Like Jennifer said in an email to me, It’s not as if there is a how-to operate a jewelry business kit we all could reference for all the laws, but in this case our vendors who import know for sure and haven’t bothered to tell many of us.
So, now that we’ve read the law…would you remove the COO tags? Do you disclose COO? If so, and you told the customer the product was manufactured in Hong Kong—do they take that negatively? Are they still willing to purchase? Do you feel jewelers need to step up and disclose this information all the time? Why do you think customers take such news negatively when most jewelry and watch imports are made in other countries?
Luxury Jeweler commented:
We do not display or tell our clients that our David Yurman jewelry
is made in Thailand; if we did it would ruin the cache and sales.
If people want to believe that David Yurman is an amazing designer
from New York who works in his studio with other master jewelers
creating his master pieces then we are not going to ruin a great
money maker by telling them otherwise. Ruining Designer brands
divulging where they are made would ruin the one of great areas of
mystique and romance that we have in our industry. We can see what
has happened to the diamond business when the romance gets taken
out of the sales presentation. Neiman Marcus understands the
marketing of David Yurman and they are a successful luxury
retailer. I will not be bullied by some menial civil servant on a
power trip trying to justify their existence by creating rules and
regulations that prevent honest hard working business people from
making a living.
Jennifer Heebner commented:
Maybe you should get a COO for each of the Mercedes components,
because disclosure of origin on U.S. imports is the law. That way,
consumers can make thoroughly educated purchasing decisions.
GiveMeABreak commented:
When you buy a Mercedes Benz, do you get a COO for each of the
components? The seats could be made in a country where the term
'human rights' is neither heard of nor followed.
Richard Denzer commented:
We just write the origin of the country on the price tag. Most of
our customers are interested in the quality and not the origin. We
have had some made in America goods that were terrible quality and
some imports that were really bad too. It depends on the brand and
manufacture and not origin.
Franck Saragossi commented:
Hi Shanu; Displaying COO to the end consumer is required by law and
although the article indicated that there was low compliance, we
follow the law. We don't mislead shoppers in the quality of the
product they buy, nor do we confuse shoppers with dubious pricing
strategies. Likewise, we obey the law. These are the priciples that
make customers trust us. If the law is outdated or invalid,
jewelery associations should lobby to change it.
Jennifer Heebner commented:
Hi Shanu, perhaps a how-to kit of laws applicable to fine jewelers
is a project that JCK should undertake. Carrie and I are at the
Centurion show now, and one designer is handing out copies of the
article in an effort to encourage more American manufacturers to
take pride in their efforts and to promote them. The jewelry
industry has an obligation to be honest about origins just as shoe
and clothing makers do, and consumers of those items still buy
Chinese-made products.
Rob Bates commented:
Hey Shanu that article can be seen here:
www.jckonline.com/article/CA6527743.html?q=seal+of+disapproval
