Jewelry Business Guru by Cindy Edelstein

Ranking the digital competency of luxury brands -- report by LuxuryLab

Created by Scott Galloway, NYU Stern School of Business professor of marketing, and a team of experts, the Digital IQ Index scores 109 luxury brands in 11 categories including fashion, beauty and skincare, watches, and automobiles.

The study, the first and largest of its kind, measures brands on the effectiveness of their digital competence based on criteria including search engine optimization, brand translation, ability to leverage technology, and use of social media.

“2009 represented a tipping point concerning the importance of digital competence in the luxury industry,” says Scott Galloway. “While the industry grappled with double-digit revenue declines, traffic to luxury brand sites increased an average of 61 percent. With this study, we’ve devised a metric these companies can use to benchmark specific features of their digital competence against their competitors, and highlight which area each firm stands to gain the greatest return on incremental investment in digital.”

Get the report here.  

Trademark 101 for designers by Design*Sponge's biz ladies 09

Most designers are very careful about registering copyrights for their designs. At least most everyone KNOWS they should be very careful. But life gets in the way, you get busy and bogged down and sometimes the registration fee seems just a little too indulgent when you look at your cash flow.

But trademarks are very different. 

Here's some advice via the design*sponge blog from Amy J. Everhart,  founder of a Nashville, Tennessee, law firm to counsel clients in the creative industries, entrepreneurs, inventors, business owners, and others in the areas of copyright, trademark, entertainment, the arts and the Internet. She is the author of the copyright, trademark, and entertainment law blog “Lightbulb Moments,” located at www.aeverhart.com/lightbulbmoments.

Amy says, "Trademark issues can arise in several contexts in the design world. You might use a trademark to identify the source of a product, such as a line of note cards or a piece of jewelry. Or you might use a trademark to identify your business, such as an online store or a design firm, where you sell your artwork or provide your design services. (A related concept is trade dress, the distinctive color, shape, packaging, design, or other visual characteristics of a product that identify the source of the product, such as the distinctive shape of the Cola-Cola bottle. David Yurman has successfully sued on Trade Dress issues.)

Below linked is some of the trademark basics every business owner should ponder.

Design*Sponge » Blog Archive » biz ladies 09: trademark 101 for designers.

Luxury Retailers Report Sales Increases

Read today in the New York Times: Of all the retailers hurt by the recession, no group has been pummeled as badly as luxury chains. For months, high-end stores have posted double-digit declines, even as other types of retailers have begun clawing their way toward sales gains.

But new numbers released Thursday show that some of the nation’s upscale chains came back from the dead in the weeks before Halloween.

After months of double-digit declines, Saks, the luxury department store chain, also posted a refreshing number: a 0.7 percent sales increase. The chain, a purveyor of $600 shoes and $2,000 suits, said in a news release that it had “relative strength” in some of its merchandise categories, like women’s designer sportswear, outerwear, jewelry, accessories, and in its e-commerce business and outlet stores, Saks Off 5th.

“It’s showing that there’s stabilization in the marketplace,” said Stephen I. Sadove, chairman and chief executive of Saks, “and I think it shows there was some responsiveness on the part of the consumer.”

Read the article here.

Forrester Expecting Online Holiday Sales to Increase 8%

While overall retail sales are expected to remain flat or down slightly this holiday shopping season, Forrester Research predicts online retail sales in the U.S. will reach $44.7 billion. That’s an 8% increase over the 2008 holiday shopping season, reports MultichannelMerchant.com.

Forrester defines the holiday shopping season as the months of November and December.

“Despite the lingering effects of the recession, the online space remains the retail industry’s growth engine,” Sucharita Mulpuru, vice president/principal analyst for Forrester Research, said in a release. “What’s different this holiday from past years is that online retailers will manage to the bottom line, which will change some of the tactics they have employed in the past.”

According to the new Forrester report, “U.S. Online Holiday Retail Forecast, 2009,” online retailers will strive to balance consumer demand this holiday with profitability. Retailers will cut down on automatic free shipping and institute price thresholds to qualify for free shipping, the report says.

Customer engagement is also a priority this holiday: Expect to see online retailers deploy more cross-channel customer service options and advanced merchandising software. This technology will provide more product information and enhanced social networking tools that will enable consumers to share purchase decisions with friends.

“Tighter offline inventories may benefit the online channel as consumers go to the Web looking for products — and prices — they can’t find in stores this holiday,” Mulpuru said. “Online retailers will be ready for them with a special focus this year on engagement and service.”

15 Reasons Why Consumers Will Leave Your eCommerce Site

How often do you visit a website and find something cute or useful you'd like to buy? And after some clicking you change your mind?

Ever wonder what you (or your web designer) did on your site that has people not go all the way?

Here's a great checklist of reasons why folks do not complete their buying process; from odd linguistics to complicated systems there's a lot of ways to turn off someone who finds something they like on your site.

http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/1350-Conversion-15-Reasons-Why-Consumers-Will-Leave-Your-eCommerce-Site.

101 Ways to Promote a New Blog

In case you can't think of something... here's a great helper!

101 Ways to Promote a New Blog.

And of course, now you'll know when I run out of fresh content, too!

Blogging is a great way to refresh the search engines with your name and to connect with your social media. It's also a good exercise to work out another part of your brain; visual artists can use the mental workout sometimes!

Tungsten Wedding Rings: Jewelry Designer Scott Kay Denounces Misleading Advertising Methods & Introduces bioBlu27 alloy

Scott Kay introduced his new SK Cobalt line to the trade press yesterday by way of educating folks on how it came to be. He helped develop a new metal alloy that answers a need in the marketplace for affordable wedding rings that is superior to tungsten carbide --the cost effective darling of the bridal business for the past few years that is promoted as lasting, strong and durable yet shatters easily. See photo below of a wedding ring dropped on a marble tile.

He is very passionate for our industry and full disclosure and not misleading the public --  these videos show his heartstrong debate of the use and promotion of tungsten. He's not against the material only it's use as wedding rings ("sacred" rings that are promoted as durable and lifetime guaranteed even though that means replaced not unbreakable).

Scott heard from many of his retailers about their disappointment in replacing so many tungsten carbide wedding rings. “When I go on the internet and read that tungsten rings are indestructible, unbreakable, durable, and strong, I have a real problem with that,” Kay says. “I have a problem with tungsten carbide for a wedding ring without 100% disclosure that it breaks when it falls on the floor.”

The new cobalt alloy called bioblu27 will be available at a later date to all via manufacturer Spectore Corporation which developed the alloy with Kay (who holds the exclusive to the patent for now) and metal supplier Carpenter Technologies. SK Cobalt is the brand name for Kay's bioblu27 creations. 

You can see the bulk of the press conference in these videos (also on my youtube channel, JewelryBizGuru) and hear for yourself what makes Scott Kay so mad. And what he thinks the solution is to an affordable wedding ring option. "If gold was a $100 an ounce we wouldn't be bothering with this," he said. But with precious metals being so volatile there is a great need in the industry for contemporary metals.

Photo by jewelry journalist Cheryl Kremkow -- her blog post gives you her view on this issue.

Scenes from designLAB at the JA NY Special Delivery trade show for Jewelers

The JA NY Special Delivery show is a unique event -- it's timed for last minute stock for the jewelry retailers. Exhibitors bring specials, deals, overstocks and regular merchandise to entice folks at this time of year.

Each year it has gotten stronger and this year there was true crowds on day one. Unfortunately it's not the day I had my camera in hand plus access to the skyboxes over the show floor for a good shot. I got requests for an overview photo so I'm posting it even though it doesn't well represent the buyer attendance.

 

This was the second show where JA showcased designers in my newly invented trade show concept -- designLAB. A group booth for jewelry designers that gives each a small display space, shared resources and an open layout. Buyers seem to love it. It was truly busy most of the show and the designers had a great time.

On the left is Mikelle Terson of Mikelle Designs, NYC showing off her yoga inspired jewels.

Anzie Stein and her daughter Jaclyn had a great display of candy-colored sparkling gem designs from her eponymous collection Anzie Jewelry. On the right is Rina Young who came with a huge array of her kinetic, sculptural designs in sterling and gold. They definitely have fun in the designLAB.

 

Monica of Rosario Designs brought her uber-fashionable designs from Columbia for her second-ever JA Show. While Ann Garrett, right, brought her collection of shagrin skin bangles and accessories. Very au courrant and popular.

Two trays of trend setting designs by ExEx Jewelry by Claudia Agudelo. Big, bold drusy rings and wide dramatic cuffs in sterling are big sellers for her this year.

 

AGTA Spectrum Design Contest Awards Preview 09 - Gorgeous Gems, Jewels and Stars

Went to a press preview for the AGTA 2010 Spectrum Awards today. Saw Susan Sarandon getting the tour of all the entries -- she took a lot of time and asked a lot of questions. She must be a real jewelry lover!

It was at a big photographer's loft filled with 600+ gorgeous entries. Ok, not every single one was gorgeous but that's really in the eye of the beholder, isn't it? For instance, I adored the Wicked Witch of the West brooch which filled my heart with glee. I prefer that over the usual octopus, dragonfly and frog jewels that proliferate lots of contests. I'm not one for representational jewels.




Oh, and there was a very sweet white pig with rose gold hoofs and wings that really flew into my heart. But brave be the woman who can wear a pig without implying the obvious comparisons.

The best in show was a fantastical creation by James Curran.....

I adored these two rings -- but they didn't take any prizes:

And this brooch by Paula Crevoshay made me happy, too..the depth of color and overall execution was fantastic:

I'm sure the AGTA will have their perfect photos and video of the event up on the 'net soon. The collection was really great and I'm sure you'll be entertained by the whole crew.

Want to see what jewelry writer Cheryl Kremkow liked best at the event? See her blog here at:

Gems in Bloom: 2010 Spectrum Award Winners.

The Science of Retweets on Twitter | Brian Solis - PR 2.0

I gotta say, I love the retweet. It gives me the chance to share some bon mot or great article with one click. I love that!

Are you following me on twitter? Just click here: http://twitter.com/JewelryBizGuru

Here's what I retweeted today:

One of the most actively discussed aspects of Twitter is the art and science of retweets. Retweets, in my opinion, are one of the most sincere forms of recognition and validation, empowering users to pay it forward through the recognition of noteworthy content. According to Dan, retweets also serve as the foundation for assessing the qualities of viral content, “You don’t spread ideas just because they are “good;” you spread them because of some other trigger or set of triggers has been pulled in your brain. We can now compare millions of viral ideas to uncover the building blocks of contagiousness.”
The Science of Retweets on Twitter | Brian Solis - PR 2.0.