This article was originally posted on the Centurion Jewelry site and can be found in its entirety by following this link:
http://news.centurionjewelry.com/articles/view/digital-iq-jewelry-and-watches-lag-behind-but-consumers-want-to-engage
By Hedda Schupak, Editor, The Centurion
New York, NY—In the latest research from L2 ThinkTank showing specialty retailers’ digital IQ, jewelers made a dismal showing in terms of overall digital savvy. The highest-ranking jeweler on the list, coming in 19th out of 64, was Tiffany & Co., with what L2 called “a jewel of a mobile app and smart digital cross promotion.” L2 assigned it a digital IQ of 118, which fell into its “gifted” category.
But the good news is that the industry ranked very high in user-generated content—which means consumers do want to engage with jewelers or jewelry brands, and the digital world presents a vast untapped opportunity for the industry to get its message out.
Excerpts from the article:
Why are jewelers so far behind? Galloway offered some valid reasons for digital foot-dragging among luxury jewelry and watches: the industry is highly fragmented with few public companies (and hence few Wall Street analysts demanding better digital performance), and it’s also, frankly, still run by a generation—largely male—that wishes the Internet would just go away, he said.
But despite the finger wagging, can a luxury jeweler survive without a strong digital presence?
“It depends on what he’s been doing to build business—if he’s out in the community, building trust, then yes. At the end of the day, the jewelry industry still is about relationships,” says marketing expert James Porte. But it’s a qualified “yes,” because sooner or later that won’t be enough. Without at least a good website, younger customers who log on to research the jeweler will perceive the store isn’t “with it.” That’s fine, says Porte—if you’re planning to retire in a few years and you are satisfied with selling only to your peers and not building new customers.
Read the rest of the article here …
