On Thursday, the Wall Street Journal ran a story by Heidi Mitchell called “Jewelry Style Waits for No Man: Buy It for Yourself.” Here’s the lede: “For jewelers, a market is emerging for their baubles: the women who actually wear them.” I’m not sure how to react to this. Since I launched my jewelry business in 2005, 95% of my customers have been women buying for themselves. (Another 3% are men buying what their womenfolk have specifically requested and the remainder are men buying engagement rings.) I was excited that nearly all my customers were and are women purchasing for themselves. It seemed especially apt because so many of my designs are inspired by historical women. Whenever a store or a publication asked, “Who is your customer?” I would proudly tell them this. In return, I got no love, just blank stares (or the email/phone equivalent of a blank stare). I figured that women buying fine jewelry must be old news, though I still felt that my percentage of female buyers was unusually high. Now I wonder if I was ahead of my time. Or is the Journal reporting on an existing trend that has recently gathered steam in a newsworthy way? What do y’all think?
Right after that, National Jeweler bummed me out by reminding me about the spike in diamond prices. I haven’t done a lot of work with diamonds recently. Coping with the record-high gold price has been bad enough. The article deals with whether jewelers should sell jewelry that was made before the price increase for the old price or for the replacement price. In other words, you can say, “I’m not going to raise prices because I can still make money due to the lower cost of this older piece.” You can also decide, “If I sell this piece at an outdated, low price, I’m going to suffer financially when I replace it with expensive new inventory, so I better raise prices now.” If you read my blog regularly, you know I went with the first option for years — until the day that I realized the cost of a replacement piece actually exceeded my retail price. In hindsight, I’m not sure that generated many extra sales. That’s yet another chapter for my Bitchtastic Guide to Business™.
Luckily, gorgeous blogger Princess Poochie is around to improve my mood by sending me this highlarious commentary on jewelry ads. Enjoy!
I think this is old news. What about when the “right hand ring” craze started years ago? What about all the QVC junk women have been buying for decades? I think women have been buying jewelry for themselves since they began entering the workforce in droves and could afford it… women’s lib and all that jazz… not waiting for a man to get it for them.
I know, the right-hand ring thing was totally targeted at women! I thought my situation was noteworthy just because I am so close to 100% female clients, and those clients are interested in the women’s stories I tell. So the fact that no one was interested in that but now the more basic story is getting big play …. bummer.
The main stream media are always behind the times! Meh to them.
Your jewellery is like you… bold and independent. No wonder your clients are so too;)
My theory is that a lot of those stores/marketing folks are lazy and sexist. They want to sell the “easy” story of guy buys for girl not the more challenging idea of I’m not waitingfor guy to buy me stuff. Coming from the ad biz I feel pretty safe saying a lot of the creatives are guys and a lot if these guys don’t know shit about marketing to women.
Never trust a man to buy your jewelry- unless of course you tell him exactly what to buy. I don’t know any women who don’t buy their own jewels?! I am curious to see how the price of gold and diamonds affect the sale at Skinner this fall- my fave spot to pick up vintage pieces…..may not be in the cards this sale though husband is already worried enough about the economy.
You are ahead of your time. That’s all you need to know about that.
The video – I’m crying from laughing! Nothing says “I’ve been cheating on you . . . like a necklace.”
I think we’re conditioned to believe that jewelry is only special when someone else buys it for us. I went the first year of marriage not buying any jewelry and also not receiving any jewelry. Finally Mr. Likes Shoes, who didn’t want to spend money on jewelry I may not like, said, “You know your taste, you have money, what’s the deal?” Indeed!
I agree that it’s old news being repackaged as a new trend by some lazy features editor. ;-p
Or maybe they’re all just a little slow on the uptake.
The Target Women videos are Highlarious.
Your jewelry story is interesting and deserves big play!
That video is hilarious.
I worked at a high end family-owned jewelry store for five years, and the majority of purchasers were men. Women bought estate items and other things for themselves (<$500), and bought bigger items for their daughters, but men bought the big ticket diamond, sapphire, emerald, ruby, and pearl items probably 99% of the time. Women browsed a lot, and brought in all of the repairs, but the men were the purchasers.
Of course, 100% of the jewelry we sold was classic. Strands of pearls, three stone diamond rings and necklaces, showstopper sapphires or rubys in a sunburst diamond setting, etc.
I think the jewelry Wendy sells has such terrific personality that the woman has to select it for herself. If my husband ever surprised me with a Wendy piece, I would drop over dead from gobsmack 1) because he found Wendy, and 2) that he would be brave enough to select one, not knowing if I would like it.
Men ALWAYS go for classic. The one time I remember a man buying a necklace of mine for his wife as a surprise was a guy who got my Isabella wolf-fang necklace…but he and his wife owned a couple of dog-wolf hybrids! So that was a safe call!
Oh my. I suppose the media will soon note that women, gasp, travel alone too. I think men may plunder Tiffany’s for safe pieces at holidays but women are buying the pieces they love, the special things. Cannot imagine what the cost of gold – 1800? – is doing now. The fear factor is getting it higher and higher as stocks fall over like limp dominoes. But all things get overdone and gold jacking up a full percent and even 3% in a day seems ever more like The Big Bubble that oil was and so many other things. Goldnicks get nicked hard on the inevitable (I think) pullbacks.
That video was classic.
On the other hand, in this recession there are countless women who are very happy that they have un-practical gifts of jewelry that they received over the years, to sell.
Try reselling some practical gift when times get tough.
Yo, bitch… get moving on that book!
xo
I don’t like men buying me jewelry simply because they never know what to buy. Whenever a man has bought me jewelry I’ve thought “Do you know me at all?” with only one exception (a great Swarovski necklace). Ditto lingerie.
1) Yup, old news. Wasn’t there even a line in How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days (“frost yourself”)?
2) Sarah Haskins (via CurrentTV) might be my favorite thing about flying Virgin America.
3) The behind the scenes biz talk has always been fascinating, but it’s taken on new meaning since we just had a (business school) class on pricing. You are very good to your customers.
That video is hysterical. And reminded me of stories a very high end jeweler told me during a trunk show I was doing, like the classic staff calling home about the jewelry not meant for the wife. Oh, the stories he had, they made me never want to get jewelry from a man.
Did you watch The Sopranos? Tony would get the same trinket for all his mistresses!
The mistress trinket! I forgot about that.