A look at independent jewellers: 7 lessons for larger retailers
With almost 4,500 jewellery and watch specialist retail stores in the UK, consumers are spoilt for choice when it comes to shopping for jewellery.
From independent, local jewellers, to big name brands, the UK jewellery retail industry is broad and booming, offering consumers a range of products to suit their style, budget and needs.
However, when it comes to selling jewellery, independent jewellers lead the way when it comes to providing friendly, customer-centric service and celebrating craftsmanship and sustainable consumption.
Here, we will outline the top tips we can learn from independent jewellers that larger retailers can adopt to enhance their customers’ experience, increase their brand awareness in the local area and ultimately improve their sales.
1. Providing gold-tier customer service
Something that can set independent shops apart from chain stores is their customer service.
While sales will still be important for independent jewellers, they are likely to be less target focused and have less footfall, allowing sales assistants and customer service staff time to build rapport with customers, making time to ask questions about preferences and budget to improve the customer experience.
In contrast, large retailers may struggle with high daily sales targets and having to manage many customers at once. Sometimes, staff may be working on a commission based model to pay their staff, which can impact their sales techniques. For some customers, this hard sales approach can be off-putting.
Often, shopping for jewellery can be a deeply personal experience, especially when looking for important pieces such as engagement rings or future heirlooms.
Providing excellent customer service, and allowing consumers time to consider their choices before asking them to commit can help retail staff to build stronger relationships with their customers, creating a positive customer experience, and ultimately helping to boost sales.
2. Offering intimate experiences and expertise
Local independent jewellers often offer more than just a transactional experience for their customers. Through offering additional services, such as consultation, giving expert advice on materials and gemstones to consider, or offering antique jewellery valuations, independent shops are often able to provide a more intimate customer experience to their customers.
Large retailers can imitate this intimate experience by offering appointment-based services. Where possible, hosting appointments in a separate area of a store can help customers feel like they are having an intimate experience away from other customers, and giving them one-on-one customer service.
Offering appointments can be beneficial for retail management, helping to plan rotas, as well as forecasting and budgeting, as it provides some indication of potential revenue and footfall for the day.
It can also increase efficiency, especially if pre-appointment information is captured, such as budget, material preference or occasion. This can mean sales teams can prepare appropriate pieces ahead of the appointment to show customers, improving their experience.
3. Allowing personalisation or customisable pieces
Personalisation continues to top retailer trends, from customised customer journeys to consumer preference to add personalisation to items. Many independent jewellers offer complimentary engraving or bespoke jewellery design.
While large retailers may struggle to provide bespoke pieces for every customer, there are some smart ways to incorporate personalisation and customisation for customers.
Providing products in a range of colours or metals, like silver, gold and rose-gold, allows the customer to customise their jewellery based on their preferences. Similarly, having ranges that feature initials, star signs or birthstones can help customers to create personalised pieces without compromising business profits or mass productivity.
4. Celebrating unique pieces and craftsmanship
Independent jewellers often source a range of unique pieces, from antiques to handmade artisanal pieces that celebrate craftsmanship.
While for many larger stores, items are not one-of-a-kind, retailers can tap into a sense of artistry and exclusivity by collaborating with designers or artists. For example, Karen Millen, recently partnered with fashion jewellery icon Simon Harrison on a limited edition line of premium jewellery.
Not only can this create a sense of exclusivity, it can also broaden your customer base, appealing to a wider range of consumers.
5. Prices to suit every budget
One of the biggest draws for independent jewellery shops is the broad range of jewellery at an array of price points. This means they can appeal to a variety of customers, no matter their budget. Offering everything from solid gold to silver-plated pieces helps independent jewellers attract a variety of customers.
For larger retailers, stocking a range of products at both ends of the price scale can help you to diversify your customer base. Providing lower priced items could be an entry point to help new consumers discover your brand, before converting them into returning valued customers, who may then choose to invest in more expensive pieces.
When it comes to pricing, it’s important not to alienate potential customers. So, stocking products that cover a range of price points can allow customers to grow with a brand as they reach different milestones.
6. Focusing on sustainability and jewellery maintenance
Sustainability is top of mind for consumers and companies alike, so businesses need to showcase solid sustainability credentials, like transparent supply chains, and help consumers to shop more consciously to work together towards a circular economy.
In a quest to make more sustainable choices, many consumers are looking to reduce their consumption and instead look to improve the longevity of their products. Instead, they are focusing on maintaining their existing items, seeking to repair them rather than replacing them.
Many independent jewellers offer maintenance or cleaning services to help jewellery last longer. This service is often cheaper or even free of charge for their VIP repeat customers.
Larger retailers, such as John Lewis, are emulating this, and looking to provide repair services in store to help customers increase the life cycle of their purchases.
Giving customers advice on how to care for their products, and providing them with a convenient and clear way to responsibly dispose of, or recycle their items, can help retailers create circular production practices and help reduce waste.
7. Utilising local SEO
While many brands recognise the importance of a solid SEO and content strategy as part of their marketing activities, an area which independent jewellers excel is in their prioritisation of local SEO.
Local SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, helps businesses to appear when potential customers search for “jewellers near me” or “jewellery shop in London” for example.
For large retailers with multiple branches, local SEO can help them to improve their ranking in search engine results pages (SERPs) when people search for relevant keywords.
Optimising a Google Business Profile to include address, opening times and a business overview including specific keywords can help businesses improve their visibility for customers local to that specific store.
Final Thoughts
There are many lessons that larger retailers can learn from independent jewellers. However, being able to identify what skills or services can be adapted in a scalable and sustainable way will allow big businesses to thrive in multi-location branches, and roll out consistent product offerings and customer service at an affordable price for consumers.
From offering elements of personalisation to providing stellar customer service, creating collaborations and partnerships with designers and artists and utilising local SEO, big brands can tap into local audiences and convert curious shoppers into loyal customers.
