MVI released a new study.
Many women are eager to buy jewelry for themselves — but they often don’t see the traditional jewelry store as a good place to make those purchases, according to a new study by MVI Marketing Ltd.
The firm found that specialty fine jewelry retailers are perceived by the “self-purchasing female fine jewelry” consumer segment as lacking in product assortment, younger female staffing and welcoming store environments.
“In response to the question ‘How does wearing fine jewelry make you feel?’ the top four responses were Special, Happy, Attractive and Loved, re-affirming a fundamental emotional synergy between fine jewelry and the female wearer,” said Liz Chatelain, president of MVI.
As for future purchases, over 91 percent of the respondents to the study would like to purchase more based on the way it makes them feel. (MVI conducted the research with 1,056 USA female consumers who have purchased fine jewelry within the past 12 months.)
But these customers tend to prefer department stores, e-commerce websites and retailers that offer clicks-to-bricks and omni-channel options.
“Our open-ended response to this study repeat a familiar message about Self-Purchasing Females and where they will shop for fine jewelry,” Chatelain said. “They don’t see many women, particularly younger women, working in traditional fine jewelry stores. They don’t see much variety of product (it all looks the same). They don’t see much to accessorize with (color) and the store environments are not very warm and experiential. If anything, they are foreboding and intimidating.”
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Here are the top open-ended responses to the question “Why don’t you like shopping in traditional fine jewelry stores?”
- Too many men
- For what?
- Paranoia
- Don’t want to get ripped off
- Can’t try on anything comfortably
- No style no fashion
- Every store looks the same
- They’re not talking to me
- It’s all so white I need color to accessorize
And that’s too bad for the traditional fine jewelry retailer, because it turns out for shopping motivation, this consumer segment doesn’t need much of a push. Nearly 60 percent said they were prompted to make their last fine jewelry purchase “just because.”
If this motivates you to make changes to your store and you’re up for some fresh ideas, you’re in luck. Our May lead story features celebrities and business experts talking about how they would imagine jewelry retailing, if they were in the business.
You can also take a look at our archive of “If I Owned” stories from years past for thoughts from people such as Ivanka Trump, Kathy Ireland and Seth Godin.
Read more at BusinessWire
