Zen Jeweler: Quantity Ain’t All It’s Cracked Up To Be

Published

16 years ago

July 26, 2008

INSTORE Staff

Zen Jeweler

Fine jewelry requires a long-term attitude from its purchasers and wearers. This is bad news, and here’s why. Much of what we do today is for the short-term, the quick fix, the disposable society we’ve inherited from watching too many commercials. We’ve developed an addiction for the new, without an appreciation for the exceptional. We’ve begun to buy quantity. And we’ve begun to think of what we do in terms of that quantity. Quantity, frankly, ain’t all it’s cracked up to be. For instance, I once noted that in a store I was working in, 88 percent of the gross profit was coming from 15 percent of the store’s units. That meant that it took the other 85 percent of the stores sales to make up the last 12 percent of the gross profit. Quantity was defeating profitability. The 15 percent of units making up the vast majority of the store’s gross was, in fact, 135 units. Less than one sale a day. Imagine what just two sales a day like that would have done. Instead of one sale of $6,000, imagine two. Let’s continue to work harder, not smarter.

You Wouldn’t Cut Your Own Hair. Why Run Your Own Retirement Sale?

After being in business for over a quarter of a century, Wayne Reid, owner of Wayne Jewelers in Wayne, Pennsylvania, decided it was time for a little “me time.” He says, “I’ve reached a point in my life where it’s time to slow down, enjoy a lot of things outside of the jewelry industry. It just seemed to be the right time.” He chose Wilkerson to handle his retirement sale because of their reputation and results. With financial goals exceeded, Reid says he made the right choice selecting Wilkerson to handle the sale. “They made every effort to push our jewelry to the forefront of the showcases,” he says, lauding Wilkerson for their finesse and expertise. Would he recommend them to other jewelers who want to make room for new merchandise, expand their business or like him, decide to call it a day? Absolutely he says, equating trying to do this kind of sale with cutting your own hair. “The results are going to happen but not as well as if you have a professional like Wilkerson do the job for you.”