What Customers Want in Wedding Jewelry and How They Buy Wedding Jewelry
In the wedding category of jewelry, as with almost any consumer product. Beyond that, what else do retailers looking to sell engagement rings and wedding bands to soon-to-be-marrieds need to know to do business?
Now is the time to build on that momentum and take your digital strategy to the next level.
says Sam Sandberg, CEO of bridal jewelry specialist A. Jaffe. Instead, he says, consider investing the profits from this unprecedented period in store branding and building stronger relationships with consumers (online, of course).
The terms for completing a sale couldn’t be more favorable. Shoppers in the age of the pandemic don’t want to take the time to visit multiple stores – the browsing process takes place online. So when they arrive at your store, they’re fully focused on completing the purchase.
Katie Reed, vice president of marketing for Watches of, says, “When they step into one of our brick-and-mortar stores, they’ve already done their homework, spent countless hours on social media for inspiration and visited our website to make their selections.” Switzerland owns Mayors, the leading jewelry retailer in the Southeastern U.S. “In response, we’ve increased our social media presence and improved our e-commerce user experience to meet the needs of the modern click-and-mortar shopper.”
Bridal customers are demanding more customization options.
Throughout the pandemic, independent bridal jewelry designers made virtual appointments with clients everywhere, and the collective migration to digital brought about a boom in custom engagement ring sales.
One way for traditional retailers to compete is to offer templated styles that allow for a degree of personalization.
“Custom bridal rings are an important category,” notes Valerie Fletcher, vice president of design and product development at Original Designs Inc. (ODI) in New York City. “It’s the most important piece of jewelry a person will ever wear, and no one wants to buy ‘off the rack’.”
If your in-house designers aren’t equipped to execute concepts quickly enough, the solution is to work with vendors who can design easily with CAD and are willing to make changes as needed (such as Stuller’s Ever & Ever wedding collection) prototypes), or who offer easy-to-navigate online tools to clarify customizable possibilities.
For example, traditional jeweler Kwiat recently launched a “Design Your Ring” section on its website that allows shoppers to create something unique of their own. “Based on this design, we can make their personalized ring in our studio and keep them involved throughout the entire process, from big decisions like the shape and size of the main stone to the small details of the ring mounting,” says CEO Greg Kwiat.
Inclusion, diversity and social justice issues are important to engagement-focused shoppers.
“Gen Z consumers are expected to be the most diverse and open-minded of previous consumers,” said Reggie Johnson, senior vice president and chief diversity officer of Signet Jewelers, parent company of Kay Jewelers and Zales. “Additionally, our proprietary research shows that 40 percent of our soon-to-be engaged clients are multicultural and/or LGBTQ+. Given our values as a company and as an audience, we saw a great opportunity to celebrate difference and connect with our customers through compelling stories and imagery.”
Brands that want to champion diversity and inclusion must live up to these ideals by portraying Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) or transgender models in their marketing and advertising campaigns-and it won’t be long before those that fail to do so are out of business. Stand out. Investing in BIPOC designer talent and regularly promoting their collections via email, wardrobe shows and social channels is another important step. But these efforts must go beyond the surface – remember, this is the year that companies are held accountable.
“The modern bridal consumer is checking to see if a company’s values and ethics are in line with their own beliefs,” says Nellie Barnett, co-founder and communications chair of the Black Jewelry Coalition.
With regard to the Black Lives Matter movement, jewelers can demonstrate their commitment to social justice and anti-racist perspectives by connecting with community leaders and groups concerned with these issues, as well as by donating to organizations that directly impact Black businesses or individuals.
The focus on domestic social justice issues adds another layer to topics of ongoing interest to consumers, including sustainability, ethical mining practices and transparency. “But we should all remember that young consumers are not exclusive when it comes to the causes they support,” said Severine Ferrari, founder and editor-in-chief of Engagement 101.
With 1.2 million followers on social media platforms, Ferrari’s advice is that “jewelers should either publicly embrace and support causes that they feel are the right thing to do, or look into a local issue, one that will show young consumers in their area that they care about supporting the things that are important to them.”
Alternative bridal gems are no longer the preserve of bohemian or budget brides.
The entire bridal business is built on the desire for “uniqueness” of customers scrolling through Instagram.
They’re thriving: “Unique gems are the foundation of my business,” says Seattle designer Valerie Madison, who recently opened a studio/showroom space to complement her successful e-commerce site. “I personally prioritize sourcing and approving our gemstones, which allows us to demonstrate that we can be a reliable source for unique jewelry.”
Gemstones that Madison customers love-such as moissanite, milky diamonds, Montana sapphires, and pretzel diamonds-may not be to the taste of traditional retailers, but it would be a mistake to underestimate the popularity of organic aesthetics.
“Many traditional retailers think of the alternative customer as a different customer or a lower-spending customer, an either/or situation,” says Catherine Cason, founder of Gem Breakfast, a successful e-commerce site based in San Francisco that specializes in engagement rings. “I don’t think so. We definitely have people who spend $10,000 on an engagement ring; they just got a 3- or 4-carat pretzel master stone. It’s still the same customers who spend a lot of money; they just want something different.
“Our typical customer wants to see a variety of traditional and alternative stones,” Carson adds. “They usually choose a base with white diamond accents to offset the alternative main stone. They like the mix.”
Affordable ready-to-wear designer engagement rings are popular.
Increasingly, the “clientele” for these rings is actually a couple that operates as a team. “They’re millennials, so they’re no longer the super-young generation, and they’ve moved away from the traditional diamond engagement ring business in the last decade,” says Andrea Hansen, founder and president of Luxe Intelligence, a Seattle-based jewelry sales and marketing consulting firm. Hansen said. “The idea of buying a semi-universal diamond ring from a box at a jewelry store doesn’t appeal to them much.”
While the national average cost of an engagement ring is $5,500, down slightly from $5,900 in 2019, Hansen describes the optimal price for customers as $4,000 or less.
That price point is a key feature of De Beers Group’s Ten/Ten collection. Launched in January, the collection features engagement rings designed by 10 contemporary fine jewelry designers and set with sustainably sourced natural diamonds from Botswana. The main stone is less than 1 carat. Ensuring a price tag of $3,000 to $4,000 per ring, all 10 designs are available on Blue Nile in a limited edition of 10 pieces each.
“I can see why both De Beers and Blue Nile sought to work with these designers,” says Hansen, who consulted with Ten/Ten designer Marla Aaron. “Each of the ten designers offers fresh ideas, new stories in the stale space of diamond jewelry and engagement rings. What more can be said about another ‘bridal trend’ of ‘two-tone accents’, ‘halos are still number one’ or ‘the marquise is back! “What more is there to say? Every year, when you read the Bridal Trends report, all you get are variations on these themes. The story of the designer, the story of the handmade changes that.”
There’s also an attitudinal shift to note here, in part because of the extremely casual lifestyle the epidemic has brought us: modern bridal shoppers don’t care much about the longevity of their everyday wear. They don’t think the ring vibe should be so stately and serious (like mom’s). They definitely don’t care about what tradition tells their partner to spend (e.g., three months’ salary).
LAB-GROWN DIAMONDS Already penetrating the wedding market, consumer awareness and demand are on the rise.
Jewelers may find themselves having to market natural diamonds to a small number of engagement ring customers.
For example, Melissa Quick, president of Steve Quick Jeweler in Chicago, takes the approach, “If there’s a particular concern about the environment, I remind them that it takes a lot of energy to make a lab-grown product, and it’s not enough.” Green. If they’re concerned about social responsibility, I’ll tell them that hundreds of thousands of people in the mining areas have access to gainful employment, education, housing, health care, etc. They likely don’t know what the economic impacts are in these areas and how entire populations will be adversely affected if we specialize in lab diamond production.”
In an unstable economy, some couples may view the purchase of an engagement ring as a long-term investment. In this case, the possibility that the value of lab-produced diamonds could depreciate may resonate: “In my many years in business, I have not made it a practice to sell assets that are constantly depreciating in value,” says Harvey Rovinsky, owner of Bernie Robbins Jewelers. Harvey Rovinsky, who owns several stores in New Jersey, said.
Whatever you do, don’t badmouth the product. Listen to your customers, answer their questions, and respect their decisions, even if you don’t agree with them. “It’s the shoppers who are really driving the conversation because they’re learning more about diamonds themselves,” says Camile Hannoush, owner of Michaels Jewelers in Connecticut, which carries both natural and lab-created diamonds.
Wedding bands are no longer an afterthought.
Before the pandemic, wedding band purchases were usually made at the very end of the wedding planning process. Standard options from a designer or manufacturer’s core collection would suffice, and the final decision was somewhat rushed.
As weddings have been postponed and couples have had more time to spend on style decisions, wedding bands have become an important new consideration. Custom-designed or large diamond eternity bands that are usually worn alone and considered interchangeable with engagement rings are in the spotlight.
Start discussions about wedding bands early so there is plenty of time to explore the possibilities together.