In Lackluster Economy – Jeweler Shines With Innovative Marketing Strategy

John Christian and Other Small Jewelers’ Dilemma
John Christian is a small custom jewelry company in Austin, Texas who like most jewelers was facing the “crunch” of dramatically higher raw material costs, soaring metal prices and lowered consumer spending in a weak economy. In 2006, the company posted $6 million in revenue, and saw this figure slip to $5 million in 2007. Because most jewelers are small manufacturers and tend toward customization, they lack economy of scale to offset higher raw material costs. In addition, creativity and custom service aren’t enough to offset margin squeeze and the revenue loss. To address these losses, John Christian has sought to lower raw material costs by creating alloy/metal blends like “platanium” – a stainless-steel alloy with the luster of platinum and the strength of titanium, and using basic or less fancy material in the production of their items.

Lower Cost New Brand and Occasion Strategy
John Christian created a new brand around platanium items. In marketing this lower-cost brand, they were concerned about inadvertently cannibalizing the sales of their higher-end jewelry lines. To market this new line without eating away sales from those items, they need to target specific buyer groups with specific “usage occasions” for purchasing their products. An example of John Christian utilizing a related strategy is cited by their CEO, Wes Weaver, when he speaks of their development and marketing a line of stainless steel rings targeting military personnel with the seal of the Army, Navy, Marines, or Air Force. A usage occasion strategy which would likely be highly effective and revolve around marketing uniquely celebratory personal days such as birthdays, anniversaries, or courtship milestones – and discrete holidays such as Valentine’s and Sweetest Days.

Dimensionalizing Occasion Attributes
This new product line and many jewelry buys tend to be occasion-oriented purchases. To this end, a jeweler such as John Christian should initialize its marketing strategy by dimensionizing occasion attributes. Romance, family, and rarity are factors which are highly relevant to jewelry item purchases.

Carved Creations Line Marketed To Mid-Range Customers
John Christian also created a brand, Carved Creatrions, centered around engraved jewelry in platanium and sterling silver. This line has its own separate website, and all items are less than $200. They have targeted this line through “regular” mid-range mediums such as USA Today and Us Weekly. To date they’ve sold $100,000 of these items. By being creative in their strategy, John Christian is growing and prospering despite rising costs and reduced spending, proving that with the right marketing and strategy – small companies can still sparkle!