Month: April 2019

We work with upscale jewelers around the country and every client has both similarities and differences. One of the major similarities is in their inventory. One $10,000,000 jeweler told me that the only difference between him and a $1,000,000 jeweler is an additional zero on his inventory level. He’s right.

Another similarity is the aging process. Most merchandise ages and the degree of aging is both disappointing and startling – if not downright scary.

As a case in point, we recently conducted a sale event for a jeweler who had owned inventory totaling $729,027 at cost encompassing a total of 2,964 items. Of the items, almost half of the merchandise was over five years old. Of that, more than one-third of the items were over 10 years old, which included 145 pieces over 20 years old.

I guess I could joke with you and say that this kind of inventory aging only occurs in certain states, but you and I both know better. Unfortunately, this jeweler’s holdings were very similar to what we encounter in most store closings, retirement sales, and going out of business events. It is inevitable that merchandise will age, and a lot of this has to do with your buying habits and an inability to know what to do with unwanted, under-performing merchandise.

We are experts in knowing what to do, so if we can help you as we have hundreds of upscale fine jewelers, please let us know. We would love to assist you.

Sincerely,

Jeff Gordon, CEO

Despite the corporate and individual tax cuts enacted last year, we hear a lot of reporting about reduced tax refunds this Spring. This tells us that retail jewelers are going to be hit two ways: The first is personally and the second is through less disposable income from customers.

Upscale jewelers are marketing mostly to the upper middle class and wealthier people who have fairly significant income and/or resources beyond the average person. Dual income households are common, and this gives many people an edge to purchase jewelry that single income households simply don’t have. But if their tax refunds are lower, and if they don’t “feel” as comfortable with their capital – as was the case last Christmas Season with the jittery stock market, the Fed hike, the China trade deal question mark, and other confidence shakers – then they will hold off on discretionary purchases, at least for the time being.

We get calls from jewelers every day, and the reasons cover the gamut. Some feel it’s time to retire and have a sale event to monetize their inventory holdings. Others are closing a store, reducing their footprint, moving more to custom, or going from two stores to one. Yet others are looking for increased traffic through an expanded mailing list and better cash flow. And still others are concerned about bank debt, supplier debt, mortgage debt, and personal debt, and want to get out of debt to ease their minds and the stress that debt presumes upon them.

If this is you, we have an answer. Let us help you get out of debt, free your mind, and start over fresh with a sale event that will accomplish all of this and more. The expanded mailing list you will get from new customers alone will be a boon to your business for years to come.

For a free, confidential consultation feel free to reach out directly to our President Ira Bergman 917-861-9607 ibergman@gordonco.com, or Vice President Barry Lustig 917-586-1984 blustig@gordonco.com.

Sincerely,

Jeff Gordon, CEO