Improving your bottom line is a challenge for many retailers. We tend to follow the same patterns of behavior over time (years and even generations) and therefore, markup and discounting wind up becoming a part of our culture, rather than having a net profit strategy.
Some companies we work with are aggressive in their growth plans; many others have stopped investing in growth and are enjoying the fruits of investments of years gone by.
The gloves have indeed come off. In a recent article, Diamond Foundry has taken a shot at the entire natural diamond industry, specifically naming Tiffany & Company as well as all retail jewelers for selling Russian Diamonds: “Putin’s Diamonds”, as they call them.
One jeweler I work with, to avoid litigation, recently had to settle with a customer over a missing ring. The customer claimed she never picked up her ring, while the store showed the job as delivered, but only in the computer!
There is no difference in rarity between a .50ct and a 2.00ct laboratory-grown synthetic diamond (in spite of what the sellers of synthetic diamonds will tell you). The cost to produce them is simply linear – time in the reactor = size of the cube. Period.
There is no difference in rarity between a .50ct and a 2.00ct laboratory-grown synthetic diamond (in spite of what the sellers of synthetic diamonds will tell you). The cost to produce them is simply linear – time in the reactor = size of the cube. Period.
Is it a bad thing to not have a succession or exit plan in place or do you intend to be the one who turns out the lights – the last owners of your business?
Watching a news program about the problems associated with Vaping, especially with young people, it dawned on me that we have our own Vaping issue: Carbon Vapor Disposition, or CVD man-made diamonds.
In addition to what is an analytical thought process, try thinking about these... sales as customers, not items. Think about what you have to offer the thousands of people who want to buy from you... Merchandise for people...
I mentioned to him offhandedly...that we work with jewelers who have very impressive top line sales...with very low net profit as well as challenging cash flow, to which he simply said: “Vanity, Sanity & Reality”.
