Jeweller - March 2020

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Buying Groups Report
Nationwide Jewellers
with Colin Pocklington, Managing Director
Est. 1991 | 1 BOARD MEMBER
02 9418 0000 • NATIONWIDEJEWELLERS.COM.AU
Strength in
Numbers
Total
Members
399 322
76
1
Australia
NZ
Fiji
Total
Stores
461
371
85
5
Australia
NZ
Fiji
What are the prerequisites for joining?
We consider applications from any jewellery
store, including those that specialise in
design and manufacture, providing they
are not too close to an existing member.
Nationwide’s team of industry experts,
extensive resources and technology systems
allows us to effectively deliver our range of
benefits and services to retailers, including
the 450-plus stores in our group.
What are the benefits of joining?
For nearly 30 years, our team has been
providing members with the resources
and information to achieve best practice in
the jewellery industry. We guarantee that
members will be financially better off with
our trade discounts and no-fees structure.
In retail, it is essential to promote your
strengths, which is why all of our marketing
resources are aimed at supporting and
reinforcing the independence of our
members, as well as custom design
and manufacture.
We also provide a huge range of resources
covering merchandise, product knowledge,
human resources, training, business
planning and more. Most are available
through our business college and website.
At Nationwide, we work hard to help our
members in all aspects of their business,
and we welcome the opportunity to show
what we can do. We add significant value to
an independent jeweller’s business, at no
cost, and without risk.
What unique benefits are offered?
Our comprehensive Antwerp marketing plan
and resources have delivered millions in
additional diamond sales for our members,
including two members who made pre-trip
diamond sales of more than $200,000.
Over the past 20 years our members have,
collectively, made in excess of a thousand
trips to Antwerp.
More than 100 Nationwide members have
attended our one-day Retail Jewellery
Business Management Course. The ten
modules cover key aspects of retail that are
essential for increasing market share and
profitability in difficult trading conditions.
The course is valued at $5,000 but is free
for members.
Our trademarked Custom Design Jewellers
program also helps generate additional
business through custom makes and
remodelling.
What are your major achievements
over the past two years?
Our new digital platform, launched in
late 2019, provides websites that can
be personalised to suit each member’s
business. Members can feature and sell
their own stock and can create their own
e-marketing material for use in social
media and on their website, as well as
build supporting e-catalogues.
In addition, our upcoming diamond directory
will make buying and selling diamonds a lot
easier. Members will have more than 20,000
diamonds to choose from and show to their
customers via the retail-focused front end.
Has your traditional marketing
changed in the past two years?
There has been a much stronger focus on
digital marketing, including social media
and websites. Our national campaigns on
the YouTube platform have also been highly
successful in promoting Antwerp diamonds
and custom design for members.
How have you improved your B2C and
social media marketing strategy?
At our June conference we will be
demonstrating the functionality of our new
digital platform that allows members to
create their own marketing. The keynote
speaker at our conference will be Crystal
Vilkaitis from Crystal Media, one of the
world’s foremost experts in social media
marketing for independent retailers. Crystal
will also be running an advanced workshop
on Facebook advertising.
Our in-house graphic artists are also
continually expanding our library of social
media material – a free service which is
available to all members.
NATIONWIDE
Top 3
Advantages
• Exceptional
educational
resources for
improving
market share,
cashflow
and product
knowledge
• Fully
integrated
digital
platform for
e-commerce
and marketing
• Antwerp
diamond trips
and overseas
conferences
How have you improved your B2B
and internal technology?
With the assistance of our preferred
suppliers, we have been populating our
new e-warehouse with product and images.
Members will soon be able to use it to
extract the images for their websites,
social media and e-marketing. They will
also be able to use this B2B channel to
order products directly from suppliers.
What other promotional support
do you offer members?
Alongside our marketing team, our two
in-house graphic designers are available to
help members build marketing support for
campaigns, displays, and sales, and fulfil
any other design need that a member might
have. There are also numerous promotions
downloadable at any time from our website.
How do you support local jewellery
manufacturers?
Manufacturers can promote their products
directly to members via our online portal.
They can also promote their products
in our e-warehouse and, soon, in our
diamond directory. Additionally, our annual
conferences attract around 200 members,
ensuring a highly successful buying event
for local manufacturers.
What is the cost of membership?
There are no joining fees, administration
fees, agency fees, or technology fees, and
no security deposits. We do not charge fees
of any kind. A membership with Nationwide
is entirely free.
How have you improved your training
and education over the past two years?
Apart from our one-day business
management course, we also run seminars
and workshops at our annual conference,
and at the International Jewellery &
Watch Fair in Sydney. We also provide
education for members and their staff to
improve their sales skills and jewelleryspecific
knowledge, with diamond grading
workshops and access to Gemological
Institute of America (GIA) courses.
38 | March 2020