RETAI L INS IG H T
SENSE OF ENGAGEMENT Jewelers are taking a multisensory approach to enhance their appeal to customers. By Joyce Kauf
A
lmost all jewelers describe their store ambience as “inviting…welcoming…like home.” Yet creating an environment that encourages people to buy may require more subtlety than a warm greeting or a comfortable place to sit. In fact, customers may not even be aware of the individual elements that set the stage for shopping. In an effort to drive business, jewelers are now embracing a multisensory approach incorporating sight, touch, hearing, smell and taste. “We made an intentional decision to make all five senses part of our brand,” explains Dianna Rae High, owner of Dianna Rae Jewelry in Lafayette, Louisiana. “Generally, people buy jewelry to celebrate a special time in their lives. But that doesn’t mean it’s stress-free. Often, it’s an emotional and expensive decision. By touching all the senses, we’re trying to make it as pleasurable as possible.” The décor at Erik Runyan Jewelers in Vancouver, Washington, has what owner Erik Runyan describes as an “Under the Canoe” theme (see box). “It was a well-thought-out plan to include sensory marketing in our new store, which would also make it more interesting to a new generation of customers,” he says. “The canoe and the nautical ambience are 100% branding.” Sensory marketing gives jewelers an edge. “I can’t compete on any level with a big-box store,” explains Runyan. “Yet I can swim in a different niche and do well.” To illustrate the point, he recalls how one young man who had purchased an engagement ring couldn’t wait to show his fiancée the store. “The store environment made him proud to buy it here.” Here are some of the ways retailers are tapping into the five senses.
SIGHT A yellow blown-glass sun and 400 square feet of blue blown-glass sky welcome customers to Talisman Fine Jewelers in El Dorado Hills, California. “Our vision is to bring the outdoors inside in a surreal depiction,” explains owner Andrea Riso. A winding “river” filled with semiprecious stones and rocks runs the length of the store, airplanes are suspended from the ceiling, and the guitars on the wall of the Library Lounge can be taken down and played. “Every single element was deliberately designed to create an environment that’s seamless with the natural beauty that surrounds us,” she says. Creating an open, expansive feel was a must for Riso, who insisted on “very, very high ceilings” and glass 40 JULY 2019
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Above: Erik Runyan Jewelers, featuring the store’s signature handhewn canoe. Right: Spoiling customers with some sweet treats can help sales.
walls that allow natural light to shine through. “We don’t want customers to feel locked in,” she states, adding that the store’s distinctive ambience has “absolutely contributed to increased sales.”
TOUCH Both High and Riso advocate displaying easily accessible cubic zirconia prototypes for customers to hold and feel. A brand-new prototype at Riso’s store features “magnetic sets — ring heads, different cuts, colors, halos, shank styles — so customers can touch the jewelry,” she relates. “Integrating the technology and the tactile has been very effective.”
“PEOPLE NEED A LITTLE PICK-MEUP — AND IT PUTS THEM IN A MUCH BETTER MOOD”
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6/27/2019 2:09:16 PM