JA Town Hall: Independent jewelers must diversify

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JA Town Hall: Independent jewelers must diversify

June 07, 2007

New York—As part of its educational program at the recent JCK Las Vegas show, Jewelers of America (JA) held an extended session of its Town Hall Forums.

The forum was third in a series of four Town Hall Forums, which are being held at major industry events this year. The forums seek to inform JA’s new educational initiative, J-Biz, about the most crucial educational and training needs of independent jewelry retailers.

"With each Town Hall Forum, we get a clearer sense of the key questions and challenges independent jewelers want answered and, therefore, the topics J-Biz programs will need to address to provide the most relevant support to our membership," JA President and Chief Executive Officer Matthew A. Runci said in a media release.

Moderated by Paul Holewa, managing editor of In Store magazine, the forum featured three industry experts who discussed the need for retailers to embrace responsible business practices, Internet technology and the changing consumer market to be competitive in today's retail economy.

Vicki Cunningham, owner and manager of Cunningham Fine Jewelry in Tulsa, Okla., and a member of the Council for Responsible Jewellery Practices, said that jewelry retailers can "stand out" as responsible professionals who offer customers confidence in their products by being at the forefront of responsible business practices in the industry.

Holly Wesche Conn, owner of Wesche Jewelers in Melbourne, Fla., presented a session on "Technology and Customer Communications: Email Newsletters." Conn, whose 15,000-square-foot store is the largest independent jewelry store in its county, has grown her business through the use of a quarterly e-newsletter. She demystified the technology of e-newsletter production by recommending the use of a Web service such as Constantcontact.com or Mailchimp.com, which provide prepared e-newsletter templates and will send out the e-newsletter to large amounts of clients for a small fee.

David McKinney, Ph.D., professor at GIA's School of Business, concluded with a presentation on "Shrinking Margins and Profitability." According to McKinney, jewelers must develop a sustainable competitive advantage by researching their market and differentiating themselves from chains and big-box competitors. McKinney suggested using aggressive strategies to increase inventory turnover by focusing on what customers want such as customization, fashion trends and quality customer service.

The final JA Town Hall Forum will be held at the JA New York Show on Sunday, July 29, at the JA Retail Learning Center in the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York. For more information about the JCK Town Hall Forum and to view transcripts and presentations from the J-Biz Town Halls, visit J-Biz's new online education center, Jewelers.org.

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