Let me explain why selling online would be the equivalent of selling our souls. First, if we begin to train our customers that it is just fine and acceptable to buy online, we will eventually be sending them to the lowest-priced online retailer, and we jewelers are not all designed to be that low-priced operation. Simply put, if you list prices on your sites, you will be pushing customers away and never know it. Online shoppers will visit your site, see your listed online price and obviously find a lower price somewhere else. Since you have already convinced them that buying online is just fine ... most likely they will buy elsewhere.

Being on the manufacturing side of things, it can be hard to have an informed opinion on what is best for the independent retail jeweler. Now that I have that disclaimer out of the way, I want to comment on this recent National Jeweler article and ask for your feedback. I may be way off base here (which is why I would appreciate some informed input), but I tend to utterly disagree with a lot of what is being said in the article.

The assumption of the article (you can see a sample above or click the link to read the entire piece) is if a local jeweler sells online, they are encouraging their customer to only buy online and are entering a pricing game that they cannot win. Inevitably this will move your customers away from your store and towards an online competitor. If all you are doing is putting your products on a website, he has a point, however the independent jeweler has a major advantage... service.

While online offers convenience it is rarely met with the customer experience and customer service you find in local retail jewelers. That point of differentiation can go a long way towards encouraging your customers to stick around on your site rather than searching for a few dollars off on an inferior experience.

Are there going to be customers who care about price and price alone? Of course, but only allowing them to shop in your store will only guarantee that those customers end up buying online from the more affordable option. The opportunity lies in extending the experience and benefits found within your store to the web and ensuring that the consumer knows what they are getting for their money.

I could be dead wrong here, but I'd love to hear your thoughts on the future of how retail jewelers can (or perhaps should not) harness the opportunities on the web.

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