GemThoughts

 There is no question that manufacturers and retailers have been contending with difficult product decisions for a couple of years.  Foremost has been the price of gold, which has made made some hot products of the past into things of the past.  An Italian gold chain manufacturer pointed that out to me in describing where his business has gone.  At one time he cranked out tons of gold as machine-made chain, but that has essentially disappeared.  Italy now has perhaps six companies left that are making machine-made chain, and most of that is silver - 90% in his case. OK, one might say, that is a reality, but at least consumers are buying silver chain.  Is that all there is to it?  Exchanging gold for silver, or steel, or titanium, or rubber?  I think not.  No doubt that retailers need to fill price points, and some have stated that silver has been a huge help.  But are more profound changes happening?  No doubt. Uni...

'Tis the season for taking shots at just how the holiday season will turn out.  Some interesting news items and a look at a few guesses about the season: *  The number of jewelry retailers in the United States continues to decline, by 2.5% last year, according to JBT.  There are now around 22,000 jewelry stores in the US.  (The number of manufacturers and wholesalers has also declined by a few percent.)  At one time a couple of decades ago there were more than 30,000, and further back, 40,000.  Back then, the US population was much smaller, so by rights we should have seen growth - if the business model was viable.  A part of that decline can be attributed to the nature of the business.  Family run, they present very little "cash out" options other than liquidation when owners seek to retire and there is no younger generation stepping in.  Would you pay millions to buy a single store retail business?  And work long hours and long week...

We read with interest the recent statement by De Beers of structural corporate changes.  Present divisions will disappear, more notably DTC and Diamdel, and operations will be consolidated under the De Beers name.  The release emphasizes that operations continue as before; that the Sightholder designation and its marketing franchise continues; and that operationally everything is the same. But, of course, it is not the same.  The statement does make it clear (or rather unclear in the corporate speak we have heard before) that the market has changed, and that De Beers must refocus its thinking and planning to be based on the consumer.  If I can interpret, it sounds like business will become more demand driven than supply driven.  That has been the reality anyway for a while.  Now it is being institutionalized. But this cannot be all there is to it.  Let's speculate a bit, which is all we can do, about the possible/probable motivations. As for the...

August, which now recedes quickly into the past, was a good month to slow down, step back, and take some time off.  (I hope you all missed my rambling!)  After all, the business side took a distinct downturn, so why not seek some relief.  In our case, we went off to a country that is seeing enough grief of its own - Spain - but it did not seem that Spaniards were awfully upset.  Maybe we can learn something there ..... We spent a few days in Barcelona, then drove up the coast to Aiguablava, a small town on the Costa Brava.  Then went on for a day visiting the old city of Girona before coming home.  We took nearly 800 photos and here is a small sampling, with a few comments as we go along.  I hope you like the impromptu tour! The tour stops at Miro's museum, but I have much more (The Park Guell, the clifftops of the Costa Brava, the 1,000 year old Jewish sector of Girona).  If you want to see more, just comment on this blog, and I will be happ...

I still hear about retailers who think they can bully and threaten suppliers who dare to post their products, in one way or another, on the Internet.  Not only is that a teaspoon against the tide, but it is an astounding failure to understand retail dynamics and the remarkable transition we are seeing. Looked at narrowly - only in respect to the so-called battle between bricks and clicks - the issue is plain to see.  Even if a supplier does not open their own web site, their customers will post images and information about the products on their sites.  It does not matter if the web site is a pure play web retailer or another traditional jeweler.  The effect is the same - another retailer is "invading" the threatening retailer's territory.  Moreover, every evidence indicates that the more a brand or product is shown, the more everyone selling the brand benefits.  That, as I said, is looking at the issue narrowly.  But traditional jewele...

Best Buy has been in the news lately.  Its founder has resigned his position, at least partly because business has been steadily declining over the last few years and a solution has not been found.  It survived the collapse of two big rivals - Circuit City and CompUSA - and the street thought it would benefit greatly as the sole big electronics store. Apparently, that may not be the case.  The Internet has hurt, and comparisons are made to software vendors, bookstores, magazines and newspapers.  The reach, speed and low costs of Internet distribution spares nobody.  How about jewelry retailers? The most common reaction we hear is that consumers want to "feel it, and try it on."  Sounds sensible.  But it is too narrow a view.  Here are some angles to consider. Actually, what happens in electronics may the the exact opposite of what happens in jewelry.  In electronics, a consumer goes into a Best Buy to look over a piece of equipmen...

I have been going to trade shows for nearly 40 years.  That is a mind-bending long time when I stop to think about it, but it does have its advantages.  It allows some stripping away of artifacts, distractions that can mask reality. We all speak of how much the "world" has changed, and it has.  Over those years we have acquired the PC (and lost secretaries?), cell phones,  hi-def TV, digital photography.  The Internet has revolutionized our lives. We have Amazon, Youtube, Ebay and Facebook.  We have a billion sites offering a trillion products and services.  We have blogs - like this one.  The software selling business is going away, and so are many newspapers.  Privacy is a thing of the past. In our industry, whole channels of distribution have disappeared (think traditional distributors, catalog showrooms); others have shrunk in number to a handful of giants (think mall chains, discounters and department stores).  The Internet has ...