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Manufacturers spend millions promoting to your customers, so spend some time learning what they're up to
NO RETAILER SHOULD BUY INTO A LINE, then fail to take maximum advantage of that supplier's consumer advertising and promotional efforts. After all, those campaigns cost millions, appear in the nation's leading media and are seen by your customers, right? More to the point, you're paying for them! Buying into a line of watches, rings or earrings is more than a decision to put certain items in your display case. It's also a decision to participate in a line's image, of which advertising and promotion are significant components. But even some of the best jewelers forget to follow up. Here's one story that left a popular designer frustrated. The designer's company had spent...well, lots of money advertising its dramatic, diamond-intensive jewelry line in such magazines as Town & Country, vogue and Architectural Digest. In some ads, the company included its own 800 number, then referred callers to the closest participating jeweler. "We gave lots of referrals to a six-store chain in metro New York," recalled the designer. "Then we started getting call-backs that they had nothing in the stores and the salespeople didn't know anything about the line. Turned out that the retailer had been receiving its shipments of the line -- which looked respectable on paper -- then splitting them among all six stores. You know, a ring here, a pair of earrings there. "It didn't make any kind of impact, even on the store staff," said the designer. "It was extremely frustrating." So, here's what jewelry suppliers recommend to retail jewelers who want to take advantage of national promotion opportunities.
Stock it. If you position your store as The Source for…say, a certain jewelry designer, and the sales rep shows you the designer’s soon-to-be-launched national ad campaign for a new family of rings, stock those rings in depth. A no-brainer, right? Not for everyone. In fact, retailers’ failure to take this basic step drove designer Henry Dunay to focus his distribution efforts on a single major retailer, Neiman Marcus. "My biggest problem with the small independent jewelers was that they just didn’t stock the merchandise," said Dunay, who is best known for his dramatic, statement-making pieces starting at about $2,000. Nieman, on the other hand, carries the line in depth, said Dunay, and its sales people work their customer lists. Suppliers and manufacturers offer various incentives to encourage in-depth purchasing: free personalized mailers, displays, counter cards. Diana Vincent even offers a credit of five percent of a retailer’s purchases toward advertising, said Polisano.
Years ago, it was common for manufacturers to run national advertising campaigns, hoping that their retailers would be prepared to follow up on the opportunities they were creating. That most have now moved to various forms of co-op advertising illustrates that suppliers’ hopes were often disappointed. There's a lot going on, so take note:
Today, selected retailers are invited to participate in national co-op campaigns. "We like to offer our national magazine program to retailers who we feel have the sales savvy to support it," said Rozanne Souci, marketing director of Atencio Creations, whose fall ad campaign will emphasize its Elements Collection. Meaning? "We need retailers with a very professional phone manner," she explained. "Advertising increases awareness, but doesn’t make sales. For that, you need jewelers who will work their customer lists, get people into their stores and put the merchandise in their hands." Local advertising also demonstrates honorable intentions. Virtually all manufacturers will pay half the cost, plus provide ad slicks, direct mail pieces, even billboard design. Radio and TV are increasingly common. "Tissot (watches) used radio in five strategic markets last year and will probably expand this fall," said Janet Cerutti, vice president of marketing for SMH Inc., the producer of the line. And don’t forget store visits. John Bagley of Bagley & Hotchkiss does hundreds of what he calls "trunk shows" every year. Why? Simple. They cause sales of B&H’s color fashion, opal inlay and diamond bridal jewelry to jump. "Trunk shows give the retailer and his customers a chance to see the breadth of the line," said Bagley, who shows samples of every item he makes. "They give us an opportunity to talk about the line and create excitement." Again, however, such efforts are focused. Most manufacturers – Bagley included – favor their co-op partners or, at least, accounts with a certain level of sales.
Commit All of this is a lot of work, of course, which brings us to another point: Don’t carry so many designers that most end up neglected. Better to carry a few and market the dickens out of them. Mind you, most manufacturers will be happy with retailers who simply do the basics -- stock their merchandise and promote it in a conventional manner with advertising, mailers, phone calls and competent display. But look where the cutting edge is going. In New York City, "commitment" to a product line led one watch retailer – the Tourneau Time Machine – to install a climbing wall to promote Sector Sport Watches. Yup, a climbing wall – a 36-foot vertical faux-rock cliff that wish-it-were-the-Himalayas types can use for climbing practice. "We hold climbing clinics there," said Jonathan Nettelfield, the "marketing guy" for Sector. "Tourneau wanted to create excitement." Sector’s marketing is organized around the company’s "No Limits" team of athletes who spend their time doing feats never previously accomplished. The line’s heroic aura attracts wannabes who, in turn, snap up Sector watches and non-jewelry items. It’s a rambunctious, un-jewelry approach, conceded Nettelfield, who said Sector is still trying to find its niche in the United States. An outdoor retailer would seem to be ideal, but Americans usually don’t think of such stores when they’re ready to buy a watch. For traditional jewelers, Sector offers a "radically new" in-case display featuring bright colors and lots of photographs. "It’s very Italian-looking," said Nettelfield. "If you put Sector on a typical white leatherette display, it will just sit there." The company also offers retailers its own version of a trunk show: a mobile climbing wall just like that in Tourneau’s New York store. Set it up wherever there’s room and let the Sector-philes do their thing. Anybody? Want to read the rest? Message me at mark.dixon@att.net, include your postal address and I'll send you a reprint of the entire supplement. Or send me your FAX number and I'll zap it right over.
 Mark
E. Dixon
757 Upper Gulph Road
Wayne, PA 19087-2022
USA
610-971-0649
dixon_mark@verizon.net
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