[Jewelry making - Article 00089] - Re: [Orchid] Friendly atmosphere in a jewelry store?

[Daniel Spirer]

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    There are some legal issues that might creep in on this particular
    discussion. It is, I believe, illegal in Massachusetts not to have
    items marked with a price in a store.  I'm not sure what the other
    state laws are but I wouldn't be surprised if they have similar ones.
    We mark everything in the store, but with individual price tags that
    allow 

    1) for the customer to see that everyone pays the same price, 

    2) to properly identify the piece and its components and 

    3) so we don't have to run around trying to look up prices (something
    we have to do anyway when it gets into custom work).  

    The tags are, however, only truly legible once you get the piece out
    of the case (we don't try to hide them, it just looks better if you
    see the price, not the tag) and there is a reason for this.  It is
    very hard to sell someone a high end product without getting them to
    actually try it on.  If prices are posted so that someone can just
    say that's too expensive and walk out the door, I have no chance to
    allow them to hold the piece, look at the difference in craftsmanship
    between my piece and a mall piece, see how beautiful the stones are
    in a variety of lighting situations, feel the weight of the piece,
    etc.  People are not (despite the direction the Wal Marts of this
    country are taking us in) simply moved by price (and quite frankly if
    they are, they're probably in the wrong store when they come into
    mine).  So I would disagree that prices should be either set up in a
    menu, or posted somehow.  I also don't think you should group
    similarly priced pieces together as I feel that you don't get a
    chance to step a customer up to a higher price range if you do that. 
    It has been clearly shown, in a number of surveys that most customers
    who come into a jewelry store will tell you that they are looking in
    a particular price range, but will consistently spend more than that
    if the salesperson approaches them right (often because they lie and
    are really interested in a slightly higher price range to begin
    with).  Limiting them to one area to look at can only limit your
    ability to sell them up.  

Daniel R. Spirer, G.G.
Spirer Somes Jewelers
1794 Massachusetts Ave.
Cambridge, MA 02140
617-491-6000
spirersomes AT earthlink.net
www.spirersomes.com

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