Jewellery World Magazine - March 2022

DDCA NEWS
Rami Baron
President, Diamond Dealers Club of Australia
rami@ddca.org.au
on their past to build trust when they first
meet the customer. When and if they get this
concept that trust is built before the customer
interacts with them, they too will see a
massive change to their business.
Modern issues do influence your
customers
Of course, there are a few other factors.
The new generation of jeweller is happy to
focus on the gems and where they come
from. There are comfortable to talk about
traceability, sustainability and transparency
and don’t keep saying “my customers aren’t
interested in that, they never ask.” Mark my
words — if they haven’t, they will, or you are
dealing with an older demographic.
Do you think that a 28-year-old has any idea
who or what DeBeers is or was? This company
literally created the modern diamond
engagement ring industry. They also stopped
generic marketing of diamonds 20 years ago
which contributed to the slowdown of our
product in the luxury market, and they lost a
name which was as famous as Rolex today.
If you don’t come from the jewellery industry
historically, you’re not saturated with stories
of how things were—the good old days. In
the 1970s, jewellers told me that a customer
would come in to purchase an engagement
ring, were told to sit down at a table where
they would be shown six designs from which
they had to choose one. The customer
provided their budget, they were shown what
fitted the budget, they paid a deposit and put
the ring on layby. The finger was measured,
they were asked how long they would need
to pay off the ring, and after the second last
payment it would be ready for pickup. The
markup was normally 2.5 to 3 times on cost.
No credit cards at that time.
I think it goes without saying, that you need
to be comfortable with digital photography.
Learn how to get the most out of your
iPhone or Android camera.Understand how
to improve lighting, ask others how you can
combine a Zoom call, flicking back and forth
between a face-to-face discussion and the
image projected on one of your monitors.
Make sure there is good lighting on your
face, and the background reflects the sort
of business you are. Everything you do must
align with the image you are trying to create.
You must be authentic, and you must walk
the talk. Every piece of marketing literature,
especially when it comes to social media,
screams about this very issue.
I don’t care if you’re ultraconservative or way
out there, if it lines up and your marketing
tells a true story of who you are and what you
do, your customer will buy you and your story
before they get to your store or showroom.
My conversations with generational jewellers
were about defining their future because they
found themselves inadvertently trapped in the
past.
My conversations with the new generation
of jewellers were about technology, bringing
NFT’s and crypto into their business, utilising
online databases of merchandise and stock,
rather than tying up money in physical stock.
Share and embrace change
This new generation of jewellers are not
fearful to share knowledge and information
with other jewellers. I have written in
numerous articles about my disgust at the lack
of sharing. Yet when I was in Melbourne, I saw
a couple of the new generation of jewellers
visiting a forward-thinking tech savvy jeweller,
who was happy to sit and share the logic of
his software. He openly shared contacts he
used for his fit out and the whole logic of his
business structure. No fear, no secrets, just
“This is how we do it, and I hope it helps.”
Change isn’t easy for any of us. I gave a
presentation at the fair explaining blockchain,
crypto currency and NFT’s and how they relate
to our industry. It will be on the Jewellery
Industry Fair website and Facebook shortly. I
finished my presentation with the following
advice:
This crypto, NFTs and let’s-nottalk-about-the-Metaverse
requires
a radical mindset change. You
don’t have to jump into it, but you
need to understand it. The key is
never to stop asking questions
until you get some comfort,
getting your head around it.
Trade well,,, Rami Baron.
P.S. And yes, at some point in the
not-too-distant future, you too will
accept crypto as a form of payment.
And yes, chill out about that because
in reality you already have a digital
wallet on your phone—it’s just
limited to one or two banks.
March 2022 15