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Thursday, 11th May 2006 (5135 views)

Jewellery stores are being urged to improve their levels of service in order to increase their profit margins.

New figures from the US Department of Commerce suggest that the annual sales per unit for the typical chain jewellery store are more than half those of the typical independent single-store jeweller

Research by IDEX Online points out that independent jewellers carry out their own buying and management, while most large operations carry out such functions in-house.

However, the analyst claims that the main reason for the high sales recorded by chain stores is high levels of staff. The US Business Census reveals that sales per employee of large jewellery retailers are almost identical to the sales per employee of independent stores.

The government data, based on responses from 75 per cent of all specialty jewellers in the US, shows that the greatest variable in terms of generating sales is jewellers is the number of employees per store, with almost eight per store in chain operations and around half that for independent single-store jewellers.

IDEX concludes: "The simplistic conclusion for single-store operators is this: hire more sales people, if you want to build your sales. And, quite frankly, this is a viable solution."

According to IDEX, the government figures are supported by data from Jewelers of America's Cost of Doing Business Survey, with store square footage, employee pay scales and the amount of merchandise in each outlet having little effect on sales volumes.

 

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