Better (a little) late than never ...

I started this blog in January of this year, thinking I would get to redesign and open my website fairly soon thereafter, and tie it all together. Funny how life, work and family stretch things out.

Just today the site is open (http://www.janosconsultants.com/) and I think it has been tweaked enough. So on to starting a dialogue about our industry, with all your help.

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Where is retail headed?

Nobody knows for sure. Present trends show that retailers of all sorts are working hard to adapt to a marketplace that is shifting dramatically. Jewelry retailers are not exempt from this paradigm shift, but their issues are not quite the same as for other retailers, and that holds true for most of their suppliers. Stated quickly, what are the specific issues confronting traditional jewelry retailers? The low end of the market continues to move steadily towards Internet retailers. The low end of any store's business is the traffic builder, and important opportunities to build long term relationships. The low end of the market, now significantly composed of non-precious materials, is appearing in many non-jewelry environments, further diluting the business. The mid-market has been suffering for decades now, but will still serve a substantial part of the public. It is increasingly owned by larger chains, but faces daunting prospects due to buyer burnout, a very m...

Diamond headaches today, a different world tomorrow

The diamond business still cannot seem to get weaned off mama De Beers. That is not in the way of a complaint to De Beers, but rather an admission that clinging to the old, sheltered ways is gone. And most of the trade refuses to admit it. Even the Oppenheimers knew it was time to move on. Sure, a $30 million auction sale is made. And other big stones are fought over. But something is wrong at the core of the business. There are big bankruptcies in Antwerp and Mumbai. Banks are backing off financing the trade, except for financing solid receivables. Government authorities are investigating diamond companies in Belgium and India. De Beers sights are being rejected for lack of money. Boxes are being sold at discounts - sightholders prefer to take a loss rather than try and convert the goods and lose even more money. Cutting factories have sharply reduced output, especially on small goods. And everywhere we hear tha...

Top 10 Issues for 2015 - #5. The New Consumer

Well, the summer break is over, and we are facing a Fall season that does not seem to have much momentum. Last time, I wrote about retailers' issues, though there is much more one can say on that subject. Now, let's think about the consumers. Where are they? Who are they? And will they show up this season? There is plenty of evidence that the public we have grown so accustomed to in the Consumer Age has evolved, or is evolving, into a very different public, one that has reset some values and taken a hard look what it takes to earn a dollar, and just how to spend that dollar. Maybe the best way to begin to describe this transforming mindset of the public is to make a list of what we see. Keeping up with the Jones's is dead. Acquisition for its own sake, and to show off what we own is no more, though personal satisfaction is still there. So that means that what you own means less than what you've done and where you've been. (I exclude the super-...

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