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LES GEORGETTES<br />
TVD SHOWCASE<br />
TIMESUPPLY<br />
SAMS GROUP AUSTRALIA<br />
a lot of stores closing in New Zealand and Australia, but what that<br />
means is that like most other industries, the jewellery industry is<br />
just consolidating.”<br />
Thompson-Carter stressed that retailers who did attend the Fair<br />
benefited from getting an insight into upcoming industry trends.<br />
“The really good retailers will continue to go from strength to<br />
strength, but those that choose not to embrace digitalisation, social<br />
media and the smaller design-driven different brands, and unique<br />
pieces of jewellery as an art form, will slowly and consistently<br />
disappear,” she said.<br />
Cudworth Enterprises director Darren Roberts said retailers needed<br />
to make an effort in attending the IJF to ensure its success for<br />
years to come.<br />
“Without the support of the retailers and the foot traffic, the Fair<br />
will disappear, as it has in other industries. <strong>Jeweller</strong>y fairs in general<br />
overseas in Italy, England and Hong Kong have all scaled down<br />
because they’re not getting the support from retailers.”<br />
Lester Brand, managing director of Lester Brand <strong>Jeweller</strong>y said he<br />
hadn’t exhibited at the Fair in years and said he was “happy to be back<br />
at the event”.<br />
“We were able to catch up with some customers who we don’t see<br />
very often because they are from some of our rural areas, so that was<br />
good,” Brand said.<br />
“We will certainly be there again next year. But from a more globalised<br />
perspective, I would have to say I thought the attendance was quite<br />
low compared to some years ago. I accept our economic conditions at<br />
the moment are quite challenging and our federal politics don’t help,<br />
but I think, as an industry, we should be working a little bit harder to<br />
support the event.”<br />
Alluding to the buying group’s pre-fair events, Brand said: “Some<br />
circumstances lead retailers to be pulled away from the Fair and I<br />
think we need to consider what is best for our industry, and then we<br />
may have a better Fair in future years that’s also better for retailers and<br />
suppliers alike. Given that the industry is not in the boom times, as it<br />
once was, I believe the model of individual group buying days is over,<br />
it doesn’t work as well as it once did, for either the supplier or<br />
the retailers.”
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