How To Gain A Customer For Life

In a first-person account, retail jewellery consultant NAVIN SADARANGANI, founder of NYUZ, offers jewellers success formulas on how to stand out from the crowd, ways to engage your customer, enhance your brand credibility, and follow best retail practices.

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I’m not a jeweller, neither do I come from a family with the lineage of shine and sparkle. I enjoy the company of jewellers in the literal sense. Acquaintances, bosses and clients (ABC) and my personal experiences have taught me almost all that I know of this fascinating industry that today is very large, somewhat lost, and fairly lucrative. My business is to influence the quality of management and service in the domestic retail sector.

When I entered the retail part of the jewellery industry, I remember pure gold being sold at R550 per gram, diamonds were sold as Deluxe/Super Deluxe, precious gemstones were just A, B or C quality and silverware glasses were the most preferable giftto be given for weddings and festive celebrations. Enough ambiguity existed in the most treasured tangible offering that mankind lusts after.

Things, however, have changed drastically since then. The flight of the brand revolution and some consistent efforts on the part of the government and trade bodies in the past two decades has made jewellery among the most transparently priced products that are available over the counter.

Above all, we noticed that even the buyer has changed. Also, look intently, even the buying pattern has changed. Wake up, the Millennials have arrived! We all know who the millennial is, but do we know or are we ready to accept and adapt to what she wants from your jewellery enterprise? Your retail customer isn’t interested in what your philosophy is. That can be conveyed through a PowerPoint presentation or put as motivational posters on the walls of your office. Today, people are keen to know, ‘What’s in it for me?’ They want to know how the company’s vision will touch their lives. How it will translate into the brands or service the organisation has to offer.

In such a situation, what is the big differentiator that appeals to the potential buyer?