As one of the most important shopping periods of the year approaches—with Black Friday at the end of this week, followed days later by Cyber Monday—do you know how your holiday sales are doing so far?
For Diamond Nexus, early investments in client prospecting are proving successful in turning newcomers to the brand’s website into wish-list makers and early shoppers. That’s a good sign going into December, says Tyler Lubin, the company’s chief revenue officer.
Diamond Nexus’ Black Friday Starts Now, with discounts up to 50% off, began Nov. 3 and continues through Nov. 22. The brand also is holding Black Friday and Cyber Monday sitewide sales of up to 60% off through Nov. 27.
“In terms of performance, we’re about 20% higher in revenue than we were at this time last year,” Lubin says. “However, we spent about 25% more in ad spend just through the first half of November. We’re expecting to hit comparable numbers overall to last year.”
Diamond Nexus increased its spending on ads during the fall to find new customers—getting them to the website and encouraging them to sign up for emails or create a wish list for themselves or for gifting. By mid-November, the company shifted its spending to marketing, hoping these newbies go ahead and make that purchase they’ve been eyeing on the website.
Earlier prospecting means lower costs for the brand from Google and other major search sites, as cost per click rises in November and December, Lubin says.
“From our perspective, we hope a lot of those people will convert to sales on Black Friday through Cyber Monday,” Lubin says. “It’s important to ramp up rather than going from your normal monthly marketing budget in October and November and then ramping up in mid-November. It takes customers time to make decisions about jewelry. Every website has a lot of SKUs, so there’s a lot to consider.”
An estimated 182 million people are planning to shop in stores and online from Thanksgiving Day through Cyber Monday, said the National Retail Federation (NRF), based on surveys by Prosper Insights & Analytics. That figure is 15.7 million more than in 2022 and the highest estimate since the NRF started tracking such data in 2017, the association said.
The NRF has forecast that holiday spending in November and December will reach “record levels,” growing between 3% and 4%, to $957.3 billion–$966.6 billion, from last year’s $929.5 billion.
At Diamond Nexus, lab-grown diamond earrings and tennis bracelets are selling well, Lubin says, and stud earrings with a quarter or half carat are getting a lot of attention. Diamond Nexus can sell those profitably even at a discount, he says.
The price of lab-grown diamonds has dropped during 2023, which has been a challenge for jewelry companies, Lubin says. Diamond Nexus had to lower its prices to remain competitive, he says, but the brand balances that by not holding much inventory so it can be nimbler and adjust to price fluctuations as orders come in.
Lubin notes that calls to Diamond Nexus’ customer care department are up this holiday season, mostly from new clients the brand prospected in September and October. The company also is seeing increased interest in in-house repairs—a differentiating factor for Diamond Nexus, since some other online sellers do not offer repair services, he says.
“Our high customer-retention rate is a strength for our business,” Lubin says. “Offering in-house repairs and a growing customer care team makes us more efficient, and a lot of people continue to shop with us because they’ve had positive experiences.”
(Photos courtesy of Diamond Nexus)
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