Jeweller - December 2020

COV ID-19 INSIGHT
Lessons
Learned
Showcase Jewellers
physical events which were cancelled due to
international travel restrictions.
“With the cancellation of the 2020
International Jewellery & Watch Fair
[which was scheduled to take place in
October], we brought forward the launch of
our new eWarehouse in conjunction with
our Virtual Pre-Christmas Expo week,”
Pocklington says.
“Our Expo week was a huge success for
both members and suppliers, with orders
placed far in excess of the 2019 fair.”
Nationwide’s annual Antwerp diamondbuying
trip was also shifted online to ensure
members were still able to source and sell
Antwerp stones in 2020.
The ‘virtual buying trip’ ran from July
to September and connected jewellers
with diamantaires through videoconferencing,
as well as providing
marketing materials to promote the
stones and encourage pre-orders.
More broadly, the group also launched
its Global Diamond Vault, which gives
members access to certified diamonds
from both local and overseas suppliers.
In terms of communication and education,
Pocklington noted that daily webinars
on industry-related topics – including
forecasts and marketing strategies – as
well as tutorials.
Proactive and positive
While the buying groups acknowledged
the difficulties of COVID-19, a sense
of comparative optimism and positivity
shone through.
IJC’s Zarb noted, “The impact of coronavirus
on our group has been significant, but we
have been extremely fortunate that we were
not as negatively impacted by this as others
may have been.”
At Showcase, Webb said, “Thankfully, as a
group, we went into the pandemic period in
very good financial shape with a brilliant six
months of trade in the second half of 2019.
“This provided us with excellent leverage to
support all our membership throughout the
period – especially those in Melbourne.”
Colin Pocklington
Nationwide Jewellers
“The last few months
have been stressful for
everyone – particularly
our Melbourne and
Victorian members and
suppliers. That said,
trading is very buoyant
at the moment.
Consumers appear to
be confident.”
Carson Webb
Showcase Jewellers
“Our previous
strategies of our fine
jewellery focus and
investing in many of
our digital customised
platforms has proven
to be exactly what we
needed to support our
members.”
Josh Zarb
Independent Jewellers
Collective
“We started hosting
regular IJC group
Zoom meetings with
all our partners
[retailers]... During
this time, we were
able to share ideas
and provide some
leadership and
updates on many
issues that the
industry was facing.”
TABLE 1: GROUP TOTALS
GROUP TOTALS AUSTRALIA As at Dec ‘20
TYPE NATIONWIDE SHOWCASE LEADING EDGE IJC TOTAL
MEMBERS 317 139 70 43 569
STORES 364 184 104 52 704
Buying group figures have been adjusted from a previous report in February 2020. Members and store
counts have increased overall due to Independent Jewellers Collective’s 43 members and 52 stores.
GROUP TOTALS NEW ZEALAND As at Dec ‘20
TYPE NATIONWIDE SHOWCASE LEADING EDGE IJC TOTAL
MEMBERS 73 19 1 0 93
STORES 80 19 3 0 102
The New Zealand market has remained relatively stable, with a decrease of four members since February.
GROUP TOTALS INTERNATIONAL
TYPE
NATIONWIDE
FIJI
SHOWCASE
VANUATU
TOTAL
MEMBERS 1 1 2
STORES 4 1 5
Members and stores outside of Australia and New Zealand
Support during difficult times is perhaps
the clearest benefit for retailers of joining
a buying group, and this was illustrated as
the pandemic raged – forcing independent
retailers to modify their strategies and
seek external assistance.
“From late March to October, we spent
considerable time supporting members
with: information on how to access the
various government benefits; negotiating
rent relief with landlords – together
with our specialist jewellery store rent
consultants we helped over 200 members
achieve substantial rent reductions – and
finally, implementing various marketing
activities to boost sales,” Pocklington said.
Indeed even prior to COVID-19,
unsustainable tenancy costs topped
retailers’ list of concerns – something the
buying groups acknowledged at the start
of the year.
In March, Pocklington said many of his
members were already “seeking rent
reductions to bring their occupancy costs
811
STORES
TOTAL NUMBER
664
MEMBERS
back in-line with industry benchmarks”
while Webb noted that the disconnect
between store revenue and retail tenancy
costs had only widened over time.
“When a jeweller signed a $75,000
lease, say, five years ago, that lease has
now risen to around $91,000. Have the
jeweller’s sales increased proportionally
over that period?”
“The statistics will tell you that they
haven’t. And what about the legislated
wage increases that they have no control
over?” Webb asked in March.
Declining foot traffic in shopping
centres was also an escalating problem
for discretionary retailers like jewellers
– and that trend was accelerated by
the pandemic.
Charlie Davey, general manager of
members and category management
at Leading Edge Group Jewellers, told
Jeweller in March that high tenancy
costs had forced many anchor tenants to
December 2020 | 53