Industry News
JEWELLER
Cartier takes treasures to the Forbidden City
uxury jeweller Cartier opened a spectacular new exhibition of its jewellery last month, held at the Palace Museum in Beijing, China. The exhibition, called King of Jewellers, Jewellers to Kings, features precious antique pieces on what Cartier calls ‘an unprecedented scale’. “The exhibition assembles the essences of the East and West, demonstrating the Palace Museum's dedication to world art,” said a company statement. Held until the 22nd November, it will showcase over 350 items from the Cartier collection, including documents from the company’s founding in 1847, and several unique pieces from the 1970s. Reflecting the ‘east and west’ theme, the exhibition also contains pieces of Chinese-influenced laquerware, inlaid with mother of pearl, along with early 20th century carved and engraved jade items.
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Visa card charge hike will hurt retailers, says BRC harge card operator Visa’s plans to increase its card charges could add up to £20m to UK retailers costs at a time when they can least afford it, claimed the British Retail Consortium (BRC) . Visa announced its plans to hike up its charges in late September, launching a flurry of protest from retailers and industry groups. According to the BRC, the price increases could ultimately force retailers to increase their prices to consumers. The BRC is calling on Visa to justify its charges – what Visa calls its ‘card scheme fees’ – which are expected to increase by
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14 The Jeweller October 2009
as much as 142 per cent. These are the non-negotiable charges paid by retailers’ banks and card processors to Visa to be part of its card network which, said the BRC, will inevitably be passed onto customers. A second charge levied by Visa, the interchange fee, is under investigation, say the BRC, by the European Commission and the Office of Fair Trading. The BRC fears that Visa is looking for huge increases in its other charges to compensate for any loss of revenues. “Visa’s card scheme fees hike is totally unjustified. At a time when technological
advances have dramatically reduced the cost of processing card transactions, we’d expect card charges to fall – not shoot up. Retailers are already dealing with tough trading conditions and shoppers are also watching the pennies. As Visa ramps up its fees it will hit retailers at a time when they can least afford it, while pushing up shop prices and hurting cost conscious customers,” said Stephen Robertson, the BRC director general. “Visa’s fees should be transparent and must only include charges that truly reflect the costs involved in processing transactions,” he said.