Christmas Tidings for the Jewelry Industry

I am the fourth generation of a long line of Jewelers.  Springer Jewelers in Fort Wayne, Indiana has been in business since 1931.  Back in the day, this small business located in the heart of downtown was bustling with holiday shoppers from all over the city.  However, Springer Jewelers has seen better days.  After moving to its new location in Southwest Fort Wayne, the small family business is struggling to keep its hold on an ever-changing jewelery industry. 

I am currently interning at my dad's shop, trying to learn the trade and find out more about how small-businesses run.  Currently, the store is ran by my uncle and father in an S-Corp business structure.  My key responsibilities have been to wait on customers, come up with creative ways to get more patrons into the shop, and create a web presence.   Springerjewelers.com is not the most modern of websites, and I have found that the competition for small jewelery retailers in the city is vast, and changing rapidly as well.  My first week in the shop, I was responsible for placing an emphasis on social media networking site, Facebook.com.  I started a facebook "fan page" and sent out an invitation to all of my friends.  Also, we created and took snapshots of other company's websites and decided to inherently take "a look" at the competition.

Springer Jewelers does not do a whole lot of marketing.  If the 1980's carbon-copy receipts for charging credit isn't a clue, the business has brought people in solely because of word of mouth.  I've noticed a whole lot of jewelry retailers trying to get into the e-market, and have a web presence.  Most of us are really crossing our fingers though, this store was never set up for the vast "designer lines" and differentiation of products that you are seeing in the Fort Wayne market.  Marketing to a constant connector demographic that is currently just graduating will be a huge problem for Springer Jewelers, and as the "rookie" it is my family-given right to try and fix this business.

I think that e-marketing and social network ideas are huge when it comes to this industry.  Everyone is now checking for inventory before coming into the stores to buy their special people a gift.  Springer Jewelers is posting its worst year ever, but I think that the market currently will be able to respect a jeweler who has been doing the right type of business for 77 years.  However, time will only tell how much innovation an old-school small business might handle.  I'll show you all some great ideas next week when it comes to launching a website.

Until then,

Have a great Christmas Eve, and remember the reason for the season.... "buying stuff" jk, its being with family and counting those blessings.



-Brad