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...

Fine Jewelry in 2018 - In Trouble and Drifting

This year has been, if anything, disorienting. We keep thinking that things should happen in the same way that they have happened in the past, even given the business cycles. But somehow, they have not, even though the US economy, and the low unemployment figures, keep telling us that things are all moving in the right direction. GDP is up, the stock market has hit record highs almost every day until recently, consumers are spending and credit card debt is rising (though that may not be that good!), and so forth. And yet, the diamond and jewelry business seems stuck in a rut. If we are to develop progressive business policies, we need to look closely at market realities, especially those that we should accept as fundamental, not cyclical, trends. So here are some thoughts. Retail as we have known it is rapidly disappearing. We have lived through countless revolutions and evolutions in retailing over the last decades. This one is different...

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...

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