Online Extra: More from Daniel Welling
RING TRENDS. I haven’t seen much change. Everyone is still asking for a super thin band. A year or two ago people wanted different halos with random stone sizes, but it’s gone back to more traditional halos. There has been an uptick in yellow gold for men’s bands. They say they want a ring just like my Dad had.
LAB-GROWN STRETCHES BUDGET. Budgets haven’t gone down for engagement rings. We have introduced lab-grown diamonds and have done really well with it. We have customers who prefer the mined stones but we give them both options. For the most part if someone is coming in with a budget that’s $5,000 and for a mined diamond you’re looking at under a carat. For the same budget you can get a carat or a little larger for the same budget. They want to get at least a carat so that makes the decision a little easier.
ONLINE GROWTH. We have ramped up our website and ability to sell things on there this year and have a digital marketing team targeting people looking for jewelry. It’s our 100th year in business this year; people see that and think, they’ve been around a long time. Maybe we should go check them out.