The human touch: How can CAD bring customers back to brick and mortar?

by carly_midgley | June 18, 2018 2:27 pm

By Shele Letwin

[1]

For years I have been suggesting to retail jewellers, “Lower your inventory and sell with pretty pictures generated by CAD.” Well, it finally caught up with me. I wanted to find a lens to clip on my cell phone to take close-up pictures of my wax resins to post on my website. After trying many stores in my area with no luck, I was forced into buying online.

I was very disappointed, because I wanted to see the lens first. This was new to me and I wanted to buy wisely. I wanted to have a real conversation with someone behind the counter who knew more about the product than me and could help me make the right decision. If I had no help, what if I didn’t like my choice? What if it was not suitable?

I find it a hassle to return a product to the post office and get a refund over the phone from online companies. Now it even looks like I need a second credit card with a low limit amount just for ordering online, in case the online company gets hacked and my card is at risk. To my dismay, I was part of this whole movement.

So, how do you get the sales coming into your store and away from the online companies, which draw people in by displaying thousands of product pictures?

A unique experience

[2]

Growing up in a family business, my parents always encouraged the staff to offer good service to their customers. In fact, the tagline for our store, Andrew’s Jewellers in Calgary, was: “We sparkle with good service.” I always thought that was clever, since we were in the business of selling diamonds—but if you follow advertising, every company out there says its service is great. Now you really have to up your game or be at risk of getting a horrible review online.

If you have a Facebook account, then you probably make posts about how fabulous your life is, uploading pictures from your latest vacation, a new restaurant you recently ate at, or your kid’s special events. I even posted my first ‘Ikea hack’ the other day, when I added some mid-century modern legs to a bookcase for my new office. A few years ago, this DIY project would have been something I only mentioned to my sister, but now I am compelled to tell all my friends.

It seems everyone these days is in search of a great experience to post. Why not offer a great shopping experience at your store? This could be something as small as extending a little more kindness then you usually do, taking the time to demonstrate your expertise by explaining how jewellery is made, or showing off some new technology you purchased for the business.

You could share one of the latest apps, such as one that shows clients a diamond closeup they can spin around to see the inclusions. Walk them through the app and touch on the important points of what you feel makes a great diamond to help them make a good decision. Offering CAD and other new technology helps create a fun, engaging experience for the customer.

New technology

[3]

You cannot stock everything, but neither can the online companies—they just have a wide network of connections to help get the merchandise faster. But you could buy a small 3D printer and start printing models for your clients in a few hours. 3D printers have been around for some time, and it used to be if you had a rush job, you had your milling machine (computer numerical control [CNC] machine) cut the model from a block of wax. Depending on the job, that could take 45 minutes to two hours.

Recently, a few 3D printer companies have developed ‘continuous growing’ machines that cut down the printing time from nine hours to one or two. How have they been able to speed up the printing process so much? Well, some use oxygen to literally have the models print on a bubble of air so the machine does not need to pull the resin off the piece of glass in order to print another layer. The oxygen will push the first layer up for another layer to print, so it is constantly printing. Have your client go out to lunch and come back to view the model once it is complete.

Machines like this one cost about US$35,000. For around US$5000, you can purchase design software that has a library of models that can be slightly altered, then sent to the machine to produce your resin sample.

Being the expert or hiring someone

[4]

Another option is to have an in-house CAD designer. We are all creative, but is there someone on staff who really has a flair for design? Could you cultivate this person into being a designer? Kevin Luttjehuizen of Harmony Jewellers in Grimsby, Ont., has done that with one of his staff, Melissa Falcioni. Melissa’s background was in set design, but after her husband accepted a professor position in Sault Ste. Marie, she found work at Savoy’s Jewellers. Savoy’s taught Melissa to do sizing on the laser welder, and she enjoyed working with metal. The Falcionis then got transferred back to the Toronto area, and Melissa was hired by Harmony.

Kevin saw how much talent Melissa had for designing and finally decided to purchase a CAD program for her. He had wanted to purchase the software for many years, but felt he did not have the time or passion to learn. Melissa has done very well with learning the program, and she is developing her skills as a jewellery designer to be able to offer the client a unique experience.

Designers do not always have to create a custom-made piece, since they have the knowledge of how things are made and the cost involved. Perhaps you have a beautiful piece in the showcase that needs a new home and could be better suited for your client’s wants and needs than something custom.

Selling luxury

You do not have to have a store in the big city to sell luxury items. In my article, “Have a heart[5],” in the July 2014 issue of Jewellery Business, I mentioned a book called Selling Luxury by Genevieve Tour and Robin Lent, two people from the jewellery industry. It is a great, quick read with 88 tips to selling luxury items, and is full of stories you can apply to different scenarios. It could inspire you to come up with your own ideas to get people coming back into your store.

So how did I do with buying a lens online? Actually, very well. The company even stocked them in purple, so my phone is blinged out with colour—and I did get it the next day. It looks like Amazon is the new Sears catalogue…but I still would rather have had the human experience.

[6]Shele Letwin is a graduate of the jewellery arts program at Toronto’s George Brown College, an award-winning designer, and a CAD/CAM instructor. She has been a regular guest speaker at trade shows in both Canada and the United States. Her new business is CAD designing for Shele’s Jewelry Design Factory, and she also teaches online classes for Matrix 3D. Letwin can be reached via e-mail at design@shelesjewelrydesignfactory.com.

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