Jewelry Business Guru by Cindy Edelstein

Platinum Guild International USA Strengthens Operations in New York

Platinum Guild International USA (PGI-USA) announced that it will consolidate bi-coastal operations and transfer key executives to New York in early 2010, in a move to focus operations and personnel in one location.

PGI USA President, Huw Daniel, and Senior Vice President, Jenny Luker will be re-locating to New York in the New Year – as will Manager of Retail Relations, Kristyn Beausoleil and CFO, Roger Quigley.

PGI USA President, Huw Daniel, commented, “By bringing operations into one office, PGI will be better able to serve the growing needs of the platinum jewelry industry."  Daniel noted “platinum is experiencing its lowest premium over gold for many years, making it a great value purchase for the consumer.”

PGI also announced the following staff changes:

Jewelry and Style Expert, Michael O’Connor, consultant for the past six years, will leave PGI but continue to consult on a limited project basis. Michael is focusing on his own business, Style&Substance, which offers designers great opportunties for promotion and celebrity placement. You can reach him at (917) 903-0735 or [email protected]

Technical Director, Jurgen Maerz, will transition to a consultant position, continuing to focus on providing technical services to PGI in the USA and globally. Jurgen is also available for a wide range of consulting projects and can be reached at  [email protected] (http://www.jurgenmaerz.com).

Account Executive, Gary Depriest and Marketing Coordinator, Thomas Kimura have left the company.

No other PGI executives are affected.

For enquiries please contact Huw Daniel, President, PGI USA at [email protected].

Found Great Discounts on Magazine Subscriptions like O, Elle, Vogue and more

We're addicted to magazine here and while the industry is going through great upheaval we're still happy to have our mailbox filled. Most of our favorites have survived the recent downsizings and now we've found a great sale (and a so-so sale) to share with you all.

Five Dollar Magazines Subscriptions  at HEARST -- go to
http://bit.ly/6iwIpu for:

O, The Oprah Magazine 12 issues
Food Network Magazine 10 issues
Good Housekeeping 12 issues
Country Living 10 issues
Car and Driver 12 issues
Cosmopolitan 12 issues
Elle 6 issues
Elle Decor 10 issues
Esquire 12 issues
Harper's BAZAAR 12 issues
House Beautiful 10 issues
Popular Mechanics 12 issues
Redbook 12 issues
Road & Track 12 issues
Seventeen 12 issues
SmartMoney 12 issues
Town & Country 12 issues
Veranda 8 issues
Woman's Day 15 issues

Conde Nast discounts rates right now too, just not as good as Hearst!

Allure $10

Glamour $10

Lucky $10

Vogue $15

W $12

Vanity Fair $15

Click here to go to the Friends&Family discount page http://bit.ly/8zyuSm

Forgotten Market: Older Women - WSJ.com

How old are you?

How old do you feel?

It seems like most online shopping sites expect you to want to dress like an 18-34 year old regardless of what your drivers' license says. But there are many who think this is bunk -- a 40+ saying if ever I heard one!

According to Christina Binkford, fashion writer of the Wall Street Journal, online sellers better get with the boomer program.

Are online marketers so youth-conscious -- because it feels right -- that they're ignoring lucrative markets just when they're most needed? The Internet is neither new nor young. The fastest-growing segment of Facebook users is women over 55, according to the Tracking Facebook blog. And the underlying assumption that young people are still the Web's most fertile market doesn't hold up to scrutiny.

In fact, 65% of online apparel sales go to women over age 35, according to market researcher NPD Group. Among these, the fastest-growing sales are to women between 55 and 64 years old -- a boomer population that has always been known for its willingness to indulge.

"It's so stupid," says David Wolfe, creative director of Doneger Group, fashion industry consultants. "The people doing the programming are still deluding themselves that the 18-to-34-year-old market is going to save them."

In fact, it's grandmothers who may save them. Online sales to women aged 25-34 fell 8% in the year ended in March, but sales to 55-to-64-year-olds rose 11% -- recession be damned.

Read the whole article here: Forgotten Market: Older Women - WSJ.com.

For fans and hopefuls of Roseark jewelry store

Kathy Rose, owner of Roseark in Los Angeles, is a contestant on the new Launch My Line show on Bravo. I watched this weeks' show and had fun tweeting along with other fans during the show.

I'm sure cheering her on via Twitter will get you noticed! Just sayin'.

Neiman Enlists Designers in Cost-Cutting Plan

Burton Tansky, the 71-year-old rag-trade journeyman who has led Neiman Marcus Group for nearly a decade, is quietly refashioning the upscale department store chain for an age of belt-tightening and less conspicuous consumption, reports Wall Street Journal today.

Mr. Tansky, Neiman's chairman and CEO, is pressing suppliers to produce lower-priced versions of designer styles, a stark reversal for a chain long labeled "Needless Markup" by more frugal-minded shoppers.

The WSJ article continues: "Neiman "worked with a number of vendors and designers, both in America and Europe, to see if we couldn't create for our customers optional price points," Mr. Tansky said. "We moved as fast as we could for fall" in bringing in the lower-priced items, he added. "But we had a greater time to plan" for spring 2010, so "you'll see more."

The less costly replicas of high-end designer goods are critical to turning around the chain's declining sales and earnings. Neiman Marcus and its New York flagship Bergdorf Goodman store have been traditionally among the most successful of retailers in sales per square foot. But the retailer has struggled through 18 months of declining monthly comparable-store sales, and the company is saddled by $3 billion in debt.

Read the rest of the article here.
 

Facebook, Twitter boost online sales

Social media is starting to make inroads in business. So glad to hear some stats that back up the feeling we who have embraced the digital phenomenon have experienced.

I've discovered a lot of new things via other people's posts. The ultimate tell-a-friend network really works. I trust my friends -- I even trust the friends of my friends.

This holiday season is the first chance for most retailers to test the selling power of Facebook and Twitter, and one early survey shows the strategy is working, reports the San Francisco Chronicle.

A survey conducted Friday through Monday showed that 28 percent of shoppers who have started buying gifts were influenced by social media, according to a report from the research firm comScore Inc. of Reston, Va.

Read more:  Facebook, Twitter boost online sales.

TOWN & COUNTRY has a new look

TOWN & COUNTRY* has a new look,says the magazine industry blogger Meg Weaver on her weekly enewsletter.

"Starting with the January issue, to shore up their sagging ad pages - 45% year-to-date, they are still going after the woman in her 40s, "but she acts younger and dresses in a youthful way," said editor-in-chief Pamela Fiori. 

Inside the magazine, Fiori plans on running more provocative travel pieces (the January issue has a story on Marrakech) and first-person accounts of navigating difficult times in personal and professional relationships.  "The magazine is evolving from old money and moving toward new money," said Fiori.  "These women are totally unafraid of change and what's coming next.  And she's not just a White Anglo Saxon Protestant."  On the publishing end, vice president and publisher Jim Taylor said his job as a luxury marketer is to provide "permission" for shoppers to visit a store again and again.  "We are inviting our readers to special events, giving them exclusive access to such things as designers, fine wines, personal shoppers and private appointments and jewelry."  Or as one of Meg's staffers at the Wooden Horse Magazine News expressed it: "Translation?  Younger, sexier models, more sex in the text, and editorial aimed at women in their 40s who are rich enough to act like they are still in their 20s with a trust fund."...

Social Media Matters To Your Jewelry Store

For most of the brief life of the internet there have been three main ways for consumers to find information about your store online:  search (organic), search (paid), and ads (e.g.: banners).

Smart retailers have built their websites for organic search, with lots of html text and keywords peppered throughout.  Many have also tested the SEM waters with pay-per-click advertising, and others with online advertising.  All are valuable and should be part of an effort to attract the increasingly important online audience.  But here’s why social media is important, says Dave Hamel on his blog, We Play in Traffic.

However, If it’s something you can’t really devote the time or energy to make successful, don’t spend time or energy at the expense of other efforts that will likely be more effective for your business. Give yourself a pass for the moment and come back to it later, he says.

His blog is a great resource for quick tips for retailing online - here's a recent post I love sharing:Social Media Matters To Your Store.