There has been change in jewelry consumer behavior which represents the demand side of the marketplace. This has caused many jewelry companies to change their competitive strategies which represent the supply side of the marketplace. However, the basic underlying needs, wants, demands and desires of jewelry consumers have not been profoundly altered. Likewise, jewelry firms have not changed what they want to do, which is to maximize their profits. What has happened? There has been a profound change, not in the objectives of jewelry firms or in the buying motivations of individual jewelry consumers, but rather in the information available to all jewelry shoppers and consumers.
Today there is effortless access to timely and accurate information and this has enabled consumers to manage increased choices more effectively than ever before. Now if what jewelry customers want is available in the marketplace, they truly can and will find it. And if the price value relationship is desirable they will execute the transaction exchange. What jewelry companies have to become more adapt at is more effectively communicating their capabilities to provide a myriad of options in both product and service offerings.
The marketplace for jewelry is more transparent than ever before. Jewelry customers can now optimize their choices. What jewelry companies need to do is maximize how they inform customers regarding their offerings. Consumer choice drives more competitive inventory offerings which ultimately will drive consumer choice, and both are increasingly influenced by greatly enhanced information. Jewelry consumer selection is no longer limited to what shoppers might view, recognize and process by examining case goods. The jewelry industry at large has been divided by huge mass markets into highly resonated target markets where consumers find and pay for the jewelry they want and desire. The new digital divide will be between those jewelry companies that are limited by physical location and those who successfully leverage the internet as a means of distributing relevant information and engaging customers.
Jewelry customers make value determinations based on personal preferences that are not distributed equally. Where once consumers were satisfied to make purchase decisions from a limited selection that could be found at retail stores now jewelry customers can expand their purchase considerations with many more available options. There are a variety of store types that present many more jewelry product and service offerings. While this continues to develop we also see jewelry stores closing due to offerings that proved not be to popular with enough customers.
Approaches to selling jewelry are changing. It is no longer about getting customers to trade up or buy jewelry because jewelry is a luxury good. The appeal to the elite, catering to the wealthiest or mass affluence and catering to the merely slightly wealthy is still valid for very high end stores. However, many more stores will find trading out, or the sale of jewelry goods that precisely match the needs, wants, demands and desires of very targeted and highly segmented customers. Consider today’s more value oriented customers. It is not about offering a superior value proposition in any absolute sense; it is about being perceived as being better by each individual jewelry customer. It is identifying the right target customer with the right offering so the customer feels they are making an informed purchase decision. Today jewelry companies need to become more obsessed with the implications of perceived product selection and consumer informedness and value choices for all aspects of the company’s strategy. There are increased information requirements to win the business from today’s jewelry customers.
Game theorists refer to information endowment, or what a person knows at the start of a game verses over a period of time. Jewelry consumers have long reported their self-acknowledged lack of product knowledge and their concerns regarding their perceived limited capabilities to make informed purchase decisions. The key to marketing jewelry has evolved to one of capturing the intensity and intimacy desired by consumers. There is an elevated informedness that must be created by jewelry marketers with unserved and underserved targeted customers. The marketplace will reward those jewelry vendors who drive customer purchases through superior perceived informedness.
Follow JCK on Instagram: @jckmagazine
Follow JCK on Twitter: @jckmagazine
Follow JCK on Facebook: @jckmagazine
