Lockdowns and travel restrictions issued in response to the Covid pandemic have deterred local customers and international visitors from splurging at brick-and-mortars, prompting jewellers to evaluate their business plans and redevelop business models.
Hong Kong’s fine jewellery exports reported a 41-percent year-on-year slump in the first five months of 2020 while hard-hit retail sales remained in the negative territory for two years. However, when one door closes, another window opens as purchases have moved from offline to online sales channels. The uptake of e-commerce sales has altered the ways to serve patrons and attract potential clients. In a recent interview with Hong Kong Jewellery, jewellery manufacturers and exporters based in Hong Kong and Thailand shared their insights on how the unprecedented virus outbreak has transformed the business landscape and their strategies to stay competitive and relevant with their B2B and B2C customers during the tough time.
When social media takes the stage
Being digitally active is more vital than ever for brands when the pandemic has accelerated the shift towards a more digital world and triggered changes in online shopping behaviours that are likely to linger.
Social media engagement rate has seen a 40-percent rise across all stages of the pandemic, with Instagram making an astounding cut and outshining its prominent counterparts. Among more than 1.15 billion active Instagram users, 90 percent follow at least one business account and half of the users are more interested in a brand when they see its advertisements on Instagram. Braze 2021 Global Customer Engagement Review pointed out that 60 percent of marketing decision-makers have invested time in customer engagement tools.
“This year, we have experienced a slump in our sales turnover which reached a record low since 2011. Yet, we thrive to maintain business amidst turbulence,” Camex Jewellery, Hong Kong, spoke candidly. Alongside website enhancement, the diamond and gemstone trader has ventured into the affordable social media marketing on Instagram.
Instagram is a highly visual and brand-driven platform where photo styling plays a crucial role in delivering brand personality. Proper lighting, a specific colour palette and themed props and backdrops are key elements to Camex’s vibrant Instagram presence. The brand creates the vision and feelings of the specific lifestyle modern women aspire to, rather than focusing solely on jewellery pieces. Its Instagram serves as a jewellery version of OOTD blog, the social media-coined abbreviation for “outfit of the day”, with jewellery layering image backgrounded by marble tables in black and white to evoke a sense of understated elegance and bright flower bouquets to make a pleasant colour contrast with gemstones. Given that Instagram hides captions beyond the first three lines, Camex tries to keep captions simple. “Feeling like a spring garden today busting with flowers and butterflies” and some emojis, for instance, is all it takes to inspire.
Circumstances alter cases
To translate engagement into actual business outcomes, Continental Jewellery, diamond jewellery manufacturer and wholesaler in Hong Kong, permanently shifted its target customers from brick-and-mortar retailers to online retailers by launching digital storefronts. Spokesperson Celine Cheung said: “We took decisive actions to retool our services for online retailers following the continuous growth of online retail as a result of changes in customer spending habits.” Its upgraded website is filled with more jewellery in different styles and qualities, allowing clients to access product catalogues, request quotations and track packages. The company is able to shorten delivery-time thanks to the branch offices in UK and the United States.
Despite the pandemic has put digital customer engagement and e-commerce at the forefront, Hong Kong-based emerald specialist Sunlight Gems on one hand is stunned by what digitalisation is able to achieve, on the other it believes that most of the clients still prefer to purchase after seeing the physical piece rather than viewing and buying online. “Subtle differences in colour and clarity can dramatically affect emerald’s value. It is not easy to find a way to present the true colour and clarity of an emerald, not even with the help of technology,” Sally Li, production and sales coordinator of Sunlight Gems explained. In the foreseeable future, online platform serves as one of the channels to reach audience worldwide, she added.
Chase, which wholesales and retails diamond jewellery in the United States, Europe and Hong Kong, shared similar view: “Customers in Hong Kong prefer traditional shopping experience. Shopping in-store allows them to have personalised shopping experiences and try the items on before a purchase decision is made. However, given the current circumstances, they are willing to adopt to virtual try-on through mobile applications and other AR and VR tools.”
Apart from ecommerce opportunities, the Hong Kong-based company pointed out that the history of gifting diamonds as an expression of love and celebration of relationships from family to friendship has generated demands for diamond jewellery throughout the pandemic, which echoed the customer research conducted by De Beers that nearly 90 percent of the survey-takers desired to express gratitude to loved ones through gifting and natural diamonds were seen as one of the options.
“In hard times, customers want to send jewellery that carries positive energy and meaningful messages to their loved ones,” said Timax, another jeweller from Hong Kong.
Among gold, silver, fashion and fine jewellery, silver jewellery and gold fashion jewellery are major online sales generators as they are at a competitive price point, Wing Wo Hing Jewelry Group from Hong Kong explained.
For Bangkok-based RCAN Jewellery and Chokas, fine jewellery has surprisingly done well in the thought-to-be dull season for the sector even though end-customers are more price-conscious and more concern about necessities over luxuries.
← Back