Case in Point

WHILE SWITCHING UP YOUR DISPLAY CASES may seem like a no-brainer, doing it right is actually a multifaceted effort: every category of merchandise you offer requires special attention.

As your client walks through your store, each case should grab their attention in its own unique way. Remember:

1.) Displays are there to make the merchandise appear more appealing to the potential buyer.

2.) A piece of jewellery appeals to a buyer when it matches their personal buying motivations.

3.) Personal buying motivations differ between categories of merchandise. Successful jewellery display strategies are created one showcase at a time. Consider these ideas when it comes to the main showcases in your store.

The buying motivation: A—hopefully—once in a lifetime experience lled with romance, anticipation and hope for the future. Buying in the bridal category pits the realities of a practical budget against wishes for a grand symbol of love.

Make it easy to get from the entire selection of your bridal case to a tray of less than ve choices. Start by organizing your inventory by style. Ignore the manufacturer of the ring—unless that manufacturer’s name has gravitas with your customer. Once all rings in the same category are grouped together, break them down into good, better, and best quality, or least expensive, middle priced, and highest priced. Put the best pieces (which should be 20 per cent of the total) on individual elements, and place them at the back of the showcase in the center. These are the pieces you want to sell most. Place the mid-priced goods (the next 40 per cent) in trays of 3–5 and put them in the middle of the case (front to back). Now put the least expensive (bottom 40 per cent) in trays of 5–12 and put them in the front of the case nearest the customer. Train your sales team to start a sale by asking if the client has a style in mind. Once the preferred style is determined, have them go to that area of the showcase. Then, they should move into the case, starting with the best merchandise before moving deeper into the case if price resistance is met. Once rings are chosen for further consideration, they should be placed in a counter pad that unfolds to visually obscure much of the merchandise below. This keeps the focus on the seminalists. In terms of nancing, offer a monthly payment to the client to make the higher-priced merchandise more attainable. The goal of moving the customer from the overwhelming vision of your entire selection to a tray of 3–5 choices has then been made successfully—all your sales associate needs to do is help the customer make their purchase.

The desire for a fashion piece of ne jewellery in a particular shade. Often, this colour is determined by the traditional birthstones.

This decision is all about color, so divide up your inventory by hue. For example, put all of your blue stones in close proximity to each other. With sapphires, tanzanites, spinels, zircons, aquamarines and blue tourmalines all together, your client will see the broad selection you offer

to the blue portion of their wardrobe. This arrangement will allow a client that came in looking for a sapphire to walk out with a tanzanite. Don’t differentiate between the limiting—and articial—terms of “precious” and “semiprecious” stones. They are all precious and worthy of consideration. In addition, this arrangement will make it easier for your sales team to upsell and move that spinel client up to a sapphire. Organize each color section by the same good-better-best approach we used in Bridal to make the selling process seamless. Next issue, we will continue our review of merchandise strategies with a few more categories for your consideration. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to give me a call or send me your ideas for discussion. If you apply the strategies I am proposing, you may nd your cases

silently beginning to work harder. In my considerable display experience, I have found these ideas to increase sales, creating happier customers, more successful salespeople and much more satised store-owners.