This was the title of the panel discussion we hosted earlier this month at the 2018 International Jewellery London (IJL) trade show at Olympia.
With all the challenges facing retailers today, we wanted to shine a light on some successful jewellery and watch retail businesses that are thriving both online and on the high street. It was an opportunity to celebrate their combined passions for their sector and to hear their insights into how their businesses are embracing the new retail reality facing all retailers, large and small, across the retail sector.
With decades of commercially successful retail experience under their belts, we invited Dinny Hall (Owner of Dinny Hall), Sonia Menezes (Head of Brand Development at Clogau), Ashley Pugh (MD of W Bruford) and our very own Lloyd Blakey (Founder & Creative Director of Innovare Design). The Moderator was Innovare Design’s Client Services Director, Rebecca Sharman.
We interviewed our panel in the run up to the show and pulled together a line of questions that would reveal some of the success stories behind these jewellery & watch retail brands. We opened the session with a look at whether online retail was really working for the jewellery sector, especially after the recent CMJ (Company of Master Jewellers) survey, which suggests a mistrust or reluctance of buying jewellery online.
Discussion then moved on to explore and compare the different relationships our panellists have with customers who shop in-store compared to online. We were also interested to hear how our panellists ensure a consistent brand experience across their various sales channels.
With customers driving the pace of change in retail today we wanted to know how each of our panel achieve an understanding of their customers’ needs and what impact, if any, this was having on their businesses.
The retail ‘experience’ is a common and probably over-used term today so with the high service levels associated in the jewellery retail sector, we asked what retail ‘experience’ meant to each of our panellists and how they deliver this to their customers.
The session ended on our panels’ thoughts about the future of jewellery retail. We were interested in what they envisaged might change about multi-channel retail and the store in particular.
It was an illuminating session full of great insights, and not just relevant to jewellery & watch retailers but for retailers and retail brands as a whole. If you’d like to read what our panellists had to say you can request a download from us.