International Gem & Jewelry shows during the first quarter of 1996 have been disturbingly characterized with some very lackluster adjectives with regard to general buyer activity and sales; “Flat”, “Quiet”, “Slow”, “Sluggish”, and the worst of all — “Dead!!” However, it depends on who you talk to. There are typically a few shining stars at each show who run against the grain and their sparkling enthusiasm is refreshing and encouraging to most, while frustrating and irritating to others; “Great!”, “Fantastic!”, “Better than ever!”, “We’re taking more booth space next year!”
The interesting point is that these same companies are taking the lion’s share of the business at all the shows in which they participate. What’s their secret? Why can’t all the exhibitors get their fair share of the action? The reality is that the jewelry market of today and tomorrow will be divided up between fewer and fewer suppliers who can best respond to and even manipulate the forces of consumer preference. Key ingredients to the formula for success in the 21st century are; vision, imagination, creativity, organization and flexibility.
Most merchandisers and manufacturers, the ones who are plagued by depressing shows and “sluggish” sales, sit around wondering how to deal with and react to the flukey whims and price-driven mentality of wholesale buyers. They continue to look at the market through their same old tradition-tinted glasses and react with traditional solutions:
• Cheaper grades, bigger sizes, “more bang for the buck”.
• Very small sizes for “total carat weight”, multi-stone designs, “more bang for the buck”.
• Searching for cheaper labor prices to produce the products – India, China, Vietnam, Philippines, Indonesia.
*In the long run, a dead-end street as these production centers will quickly learn the techniques, designs and market-them they will be the competition, beating the marketers at their own game. Already happening in India and China.
• Knock off the successful competition’s designs or direction, trying to make it t a cheaper price.
• Reduce profit margins
For those manufacturers who over-react to the price-driven market forces of today, the 21st Century may coin a new adage, “Let the Producer Beware”. Inaccuracies and miscalculations abound when wearing price-tinted lenses, and one of these mistakes could be the unaware merchandiser’s last when trying to weather today’s buyers’ market. It is very difficult to presume to satisfy an exigent customer when plagued with the difficulties inherent in production centers based on low-priced labor:
• Late Deliveries
• Incomplete orders
• Shoddy workmanship, generally discovered when it is too late to repair.
• Synthetic Amethyst mixed with natural (as addressed in Color Sense VIII)
• Synthetic Citrine mixed with natural (as addressed in Color Sense VIII)
• Imitation Peridot mixed with natural
(An increasingly troublesome occurrence in the Chinese-produced goods. Apparently high-leaded glass or some other high specific-gravity Peridot look-alike is being salted into natural lots in large quantities. Although detection is relatively easy with simple gemological tests, it is almost impossible to distinguish visually — those who are looking for the “right” price points don’t generally have the time or inclination to do the testing.)
Unfortunately, the classic reactionary merchandisers, who by the way are in the vast majority, have fallen victim to market myopia — “not being able to see the forest because of the trees”. Conventional “wisdom” encourages people to build on the successes of the past, and the conventional marketer follows suit —a formula for certain failure in today’s fast-moving, dynamic, cybergenic world.
Observation of international trade shows reveal that the most flourishing manufacturers and merchandisers are mavericks who can maintain their competitive edge, and high profits, while still producing in the US, Europe or Japan. What is their secret? Hard to say for sure, but we can certainly see that they are not following the leaders — they are the leaders, with:
• Innovation
• Design (jewelry & colored gemstone shapes and combinations)
• Materials (metals and colored stone types)
• Technical
• Technical and operational superiority
• Managerial/organizational/Ieadership superiority
• Maximizing employee motivation
• Trimming costs, realistically, within their own organization (not necessarily looking for cheaper labor outside).
Since this Color Sense column is not about operations, administration, or management, let’s stick with the points on which we are best qualified to comment, and possibly one of the most important ingredients for prosperity in the Jewelry industry for the next century, Natural Colored Gemstones.
Now, it is a proven and accepted fact in the 90’s, very much appreciated by the maverick marketers, that Natural Color Sells Jewelry — and it is only going to get better as this decade proceeds into the 21st century.
There are three fundamental ways natural colored stones are being utilized for maximum advantage and effectiveness: 1) alternative stone types, 2) imaginative uses of natural color and 3) innovative shapes and /or facet designs. Incorporating such resourcefulness into creative and tasteful jewelry designs provides unique, attractive and sellable pieces which make it difficult, if not impossible, for the price-motivated buyers to “break out” costs for which they cannot easily find comparisons.
ALTERNATIVE STONE TYPES
The successful jewelry entrepreneur strives to sidestep the wholesale buyers’ pressing motivation to break down the components of a jewelry piece into individual costs. The buyers’ ability to compare prices with the competition can destroy a sale or at least evaporate profits. One of the most effective sidesteps is to find attractive natural colored-stone types which are not easily available to every Tom, Dick and Patel down the street. Effectively and synergistically styled into simple, tasteful and appealing designs these exotic little stunners can delight the aggressive wholesale purchaser while confounding their driving desire to hammer down prices.
This can result in a truly “Win-Win” sales situation whereby; the manufacturer makes a reasonable profit, the marketer has a product with which he can romance and dazzle the consumer, and the final owner of the jewelry has a beautiful and affordable conversation piece.
Some, but not all, of the more successful natural stone newcomers are:
Apatite, teal blue and mint blue
Chrome diopside
Peppermint emerald
Iolite
Fancy garnets; chardonnay, cinnamon, mandarin, rose IX,
Faceted Mexican fire opal
Orthoclase
Leopard opal
Opalescent labradorite
Morganite (marketed in the US as “Pink Emerald”.)
Moldavite
Alternative white stones, either for center stones or for accents, as an affordable natural substitute for diamond
• Goshanite (white beryl), white topaz, white sapphire, quartz crystal
IMAGINATIVE USES OF NATURAL COLOR
A synergistic use of gemstones and design, this avenue requires the blending of a bottom-line sourcing for gemstones with a market-sensitive and imaginative flair with design. Again, the objective is to captivate the wholesale buyer or merchandiser with a salable something they have never before seen, while distracting them from their compulsion to compare prices against the competition. Among the myriad of options are:
Multi-colored combinations within a single stone type:
• Tourmaline-pinks, mauves, greens, blues, yellows, oranges
• Beryl – white, pink, blue, green, yellow (could be marketed as multi-colored “emerald”, after the trade acceptance of morganite as “pink emerald” and goshanite as “white emerald” in the US)
• Garnets – rhodolite, Mozambique, rose, chardonnay, cinnam,on hessionite
Multi-tonal lines:
• Utilizing the light to medium to dark variations of a single color.
• Darkest stones in the center with lighter hues graduating outwards.
• Lightest stones in the center, surrounded by gradually darkening hues.
INNOVATIVE SHAPES AND FACETTING STYLES
A few years ago there was a big push for the very exotic and trendy fancy shapes — “laser cuts”, fantasy-cuts, strange geometric shapes — the kinds of cuts and shapes one would never think of as a natural gemstone. This was motivated by a “flash-in-the-pan” mentality here today, gone tomorrow — no longevity, no continuity, offering no real identity to a line of jewelry.
The most successful designers and merchandisers in the US, Europe and Japan today are finding the “fancy” gem-cuts that work best are those which are based on traditional shapes, modified with a subtle creative flair. Such shapes are more refined, effective and sellable because they are acceptable to a wider range of consumers. In addition they have a good chance of eventually becoming adopted as a “standard” cutting style for the long term.
Example: (See diagrams and photos)
Trillion cut; once considered a fancy shape, is now a proven bread-and-butter standard shape that even some of the most conventional designers are using.
Barred-cut; sometimes described as an elegant combination between the classic oval and emerald-cut.
Onion-cut; otherwise known as the “lotus-cut”, a slightly oriental panache is added to a basically round shape.
Cushion-cuts, square and rectangular; curved variation on the theme of the straight-sided square and emerald-cut.
Briolettes; in fact a traditional shape which fell out of fashion 40-50 years ago, but is now enjoying a renaissance in popularity and accepted style.
Princess-cut squares; standard step-cut square top with a diamond-cut bottom, affording a brilliancy not previously obtainable in traditional square-cuts.
Precision-cut taper baguettes (can be used as an affordable replacement for diamond in alternative white stones or, a totally new look in a single color, multi-tonal or multi-color designs.)
Cabochons – ovals squares, trillions, sugar-loafs, bullets; conventionally considered an item primarily for the European market, cabochons are now rapidly gaining acceptance, popularity and sales for progressive jewelry lines in the UA and Japan. And, as a variation on a theme, all these shapes can also have variations of faceting styles:
• Buff-tops
• Bar-tops
• Checker-tops
• Diamond-tops
As the most prosperous merchandisers in our industry are quick to point out, the possibilities for creating viable products and expanding sales are challenging invigorating and boundless. Unfortunately, however, only a few discover the key and have the wisdom to utilize it effectively. An sage, I believe it was Confucius, philosophized that the secret of wisdom is, once having knowledge, understanding how to use it.