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Women Want Platinum Engagement Rings. Here’s Why They May Not Be Getting Them, According to PGI

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LAFAYETTE, LA — While 77 percent of bridal customers say that platinum is their first choice — or at least a serious consideration — when contemplating the purchase of an engagement ring, only 15 percent of women receive a platinum ring, according to Platinum Guild International research.

Kevin Reilly, vice president of Platinum Guild International USA, urges retailers to view this large gap between desire and reality as a growth opportunity and give their whole company culture  a second look, when it comes to platinum.

Reilly spoke during a seminar called “Working With Platinum” during Stuller’s Bench Jeweler Workshop March 23-25.

Platinum WILL sell if associates are trained to sell it and if the bench jeweler is trained to work with it, Reilly says.

To begin with, customers are looking for expert guides, not order takers, when they come to your jewelry store. If you don’t mention platinum, they may not be confident enough to bring it up.

When they walk into your store “customers see a sea of white, and in their head, they just see silver,” Reilly says. “They can’t discern between silver, white gold, palladium, tungsten. If eight out of 10 of your engagement rings and wedding bands are not platinum, you have the opportunity there for more profitability.”

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A Platinum Guild International research project found that while the average margin percent for platinum and white gold is similar and slightly in white gold’s favor even, platinum profit significantly exceeds white gold when looking at the actual dollar difference.If your sales staff needs talking points, Reilly suggests the following:

  • Nothing holds a diamond more securely than platinum.
  • The diamond is the most valuable component of the consumer’s investment.
  • The best way to protect that investment is by setting it in platinum.
  • Even if the rest of the ring is a different metal, the diamond should always be held in a platinum setting.

The Platinum Guild worked with the GIA to develop the Platinum Quality Assurance Benchmark, a free system for evaluating finished and semi-finished platinum jewelry.“A lot of times what we find is if there are performance issues with a ring people will blame the platinum, when in fact it probably happened because there is something wrong with the engineering of that ring,” Reilly says.

The PGI Platinum micro-topics allow bench jewelers to plot their design against objective benchmarks and prevent structural failure. For more information about the program, see http://us.platinumguild.com/platinum-training/training/technical-education.

For more information about training your staff to sell platinum, contact Kevin Reilly at kreilly@pgiglobal.com.

This story is an INSTORE Online extra.

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Ready to Move? Let Wilkerson Lead the Way

When Brockhaus Jewelry planned their move to a new location in Norman, Oklahoma, owners John Brockhaus and Brad Shipman knew exactly who to call for their moving sale: Wilkerson. "Having worked with Wilkerson before, choosing them again made perfect sense," says Shipman. "And our second partnership was even better than the first." The sale exceeded expectations, thanks to Wilkerson's strategic approach - starting with Brockhaus's existing inventory before carefully supplementing with additional pieces. "They made everything simple," Shipman adds. "From the outstanding consultant to the detailed planning, the entire process was seamless." It's why both partners enthusiastically recommend Wilkerson to fellow jewelers planning a move, remodel, or retirement sale.

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Women Want Platinum Engagement Rings. Here’s Why They May Not Be Getting Them, According to PGI

mm

Published

on

LAFAYETTE, LA — While 77 percent of bridal customers say that platinum is their first choice — or at least a serious consideration — when contemplating the purchase of an engagement ring, only 15 percent of women receive a platinum ring, according to Platinum Guild International research.

Kevin Reilly, vice president of Platinum Guild International USA, urges retailers to view this large gap between desire and reality as a growth opportunity and give their whole company culture  a second look, when it comes to platinum.

Reilly spoke during a seminar called “Working With Platinum” during Stuller’s Bench Jeweler Workshop March 23-25.

Platinum WILL sell if associates are trained to sell it and if the bench jeweler is trained to work with it, Reilly says.

To begin with, customers are looking for expert guides, not order takers, when they come to your jewelry store. If you don’t mention platinum, they may not be confident enough to bring it up.

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When they walk into your store “customers see a sea of white, and in their head, they just see silver,” Reilly says. “They can’t discern between silver, white gold, palladium, tungsten. If eight out of 10 of your engagement rings and wedding bands are not platinum, you have the opportunity there for more profitability.”

A Platinum Guild International research project found that while the average margin percent for platinum and white gold is similar and slightly in white gold’s favor even, platinum profit significantly exceeds white gold when looking at the actual dollar difference.If your sales staff needs talking points, Reilly suggests the following:

  • Nothing holds a diamond more securely than platinum.
  • The diamond is the most valuable component of the consumer’s investment.
  • The best way to protect that investment is by setting it in platinum.
  • Even if the rest of the ring is a different metal, the diamond should always be held in a platinum setting.

The Platinum Guild worked with the GIA to develop the Platinum Quality Assurance Benchmark, a free system for evaluating finished and semi-finished platinum jewelry.“A lot of times what we find is if there are performance issues with a ring people will blame the platinum, when in fact it probably happened because there is something wrong with the engineering of that ring,” Reilly says.

The PGI Platinum micro-topics allow bench jewelers to plot their design against objective benchmarks and prevent structural failure. For more information about the program, see http://us.platinumguild.com/platinum-training/training/technical-education.

For more information about training your staff to sell platinum, contact Kevin Reilly at kreilly@pgiglobal.com.

This story is an INSTORE Online extra.

Advertisement

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Retiring? Let Wilkerson Do the Heavy Lifting

Retirement can be a great part of life. As Nanji Singadia puts it, “I want to retire and enjoy my life. I’m 78 now and I just want to take a break.” That said, Nanji decided that the best way to move ahead was to contact the experts at Wilkerson. He chose them because he knew that closing a store is a heavy lift. To maximize sales and move on to the next, best chapter of his life, he called Wilkerson—but not before asking his industry friends for their opinion. He found that Wilkerson was the company most recommended and says their professionalism, experience and the homework they did before the launch all helped to make his going out of business sale a success. “Wilkerson were working on the sale a month it took place,” he says. “They did a great job.”

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