The Big Survey 2025: AI and the Future

There’s a lot of skepticism about AI among our jewelers, reflected not only in their low take-up of the technology rate but also in their thoughts. For many, it threatens to take the soul out of jewelry-making ... or to maintain our theme, it’s about as appealing as going to Disneyland and then paying someone else to ride Space Mountain on your behalf.

Published

3 months ago

October 26, 2025

INSTORE Staff Instore November 2025 Issue

Tell us about a use of an AI app that has markedly improved your business life?

The most prominent applications fell into five main categories.

Communication & Writing:

Improving clarity and professionalism in emails, texts, and customer responses (“Seasoned a GPT to write in my voice. It took a long time to do so, but now it helps keep the voice across the website consistent, regardless of who produces the content.”)
Crafting product descriptions, blog posts, and social media content.
Generating ideas for marketing initiatives and ad copy.
Assisting with review responses and complicated correspondence.

Business Operations:

Developing CRM systems.
Streamlining performance reviews and goal-setting processes.
Enhancing website development.
Creating job descriptions and offer letters.
Simplifying and polishing store policies (“Used ChatGPT to write a new dress code”).
Generating vendor and accounting reports and financial analysis (“I use ChatGPT when writing up new contracts or waivers for memo or certain repairs”; “I am using it to help me create basic code for spreadsheets, website, etc. I am able to create forms and payment collection tools that streamline our processes”).

Customer & vendor Interaction:

Integrating AI-powered phone systems and chatbots to handle inquiries and missed calls (“Podium’s AI agent knows what I have in stock along with prices and can answer many customer questions”).
Creating visual content to supplement customer communications (“Both ChatGPT and Midjourney help with customer and vendor replies. A picture is worth a thousand words but clear and concise instructions are priceless”).

Marketing & SEO:

Developing marketing strategies and content ideas
Assisting with SEO optimization.
Creating billboard and advertising content.
Generating newsletters.

Design & Visualization:

Quickly generating design ideas (though some jewelers explicitly avoid using AI for design).
Visualizing store layouts.

Do you think that the ultimate benefit of AI will be to …

Increase productivity by taking over rote tasks
25%
Add a new “brain” to your business that can help you come up with brilliant new ideas and plans
24%
Provide you with an informational resource
32%
Boost performance by taking over creative tasks
7%
Take over the responsibility of educating customers
3%
Other
8%

Some jewelers didn’t see any benefit at all, just risk: “This is a touchy topic in our store. Some (like me) are ardently opposed to letting machines do our thinking for us. Others seem to have embraced ChatGPT. I hope he doesn’t mind his granddaughters living underground in a lithium mine in permanent servitude to their metal masters.”

We are now closer to 2050 than the year 2000. How do you envision jewelry retail looking by mid-century?

Mostly moved online
6%
Designed by robots, created by robots, shipped by robots
3%
Pretty much unchanged from now — mostly made and sold by humans
23%
A hybrid model blending online convenience and personal in-store experience, assisted by AI agents
50%
Who cares. I won’t be around
18%

Most jewelers accept that technology will increasingly become part of the jewelry-making and selling processes. But at its heart, most fervently believe it will remain a human-centric endeavor, since jewelry is about beauty and emotion. Here are some of your fellow jewelers’ thoughts on the future of jewelry:

Virtual showrooms, augmented reality try-ons, and AI-assisted designs will make custom pieces more accessible than ever, while still honoring the tactile, emotional experience of handling fine diamonds and gotta-have-it unique colored gems in person.
Jewelry design and manufacture by AI /robots will be a terrible thing for the jewelry business, and hopefully never becomes the norm.
I believe that the human “touch” for jewelry will not be eliminated, possibly will even be enhanced. The high sentimental value and personal nature of jewelry will make the product resistant to full robotization.
The best part of our collection is being able to say it was handmade.
True jewelry is a creation of a human soul, just like art. No machine has feelings or imagination, as yet. It is useless to guess.

Are you using any of the AI-powered large language models such as chatGPT, Grok, or Claude to help you with your business?

The Big Survey 2025: AI and the Future

If you are you employing them, what areas are you using them for?

The Big Survey 2025: AI and the Future

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Honoring a Legacy: How Smith & Son Jewelers Exceeded Every Goal With Wilkerson

When Andrew Smith decided to close the Springfield, Massachusetts location of Smith & Son Jewelers, the decision came down to family. His father was retiring after 72 years in the business, and Andrew wanted to spend more time with his children and soon-to-arrive grandchildren. For this fourth-generation jeweler whose great-grandfather founded the company in 1918, closing the 107-year-old Springfield location required the right partner. Smith chose Wilkerson, and the experience exceeded expectations from start to finish. "Everything they told me was 100% true," Smith says. "The ease and use of all their tools was wonderful." The consultants' knowledge and expertise proved invaluable. Smith and his father set their own financial goal, but Wilkerson proposed three more ambitious targets. "We thought we would never make it," Smith explains. "We were dead wrong. We hit our first goal, second goal and third goal. It was amazing." Smith's recommendation is emphatic: "I would never be able to do what they did by myself."