- Joined
- Sep 3, 2000
- Messages
- 6,695
One or more disgruntled B&M retailers feel that my participation on Pricescope and other websites is a part of some agenda that I have to bring them down or to hurt the jewelry business. It couldn''t be further from the truth. I have a great affinity for the business and for what it could be.
What I have seen over quite a few years is a gradual degradation of ethics which is not just inside the jewelry business, but is a general lowering of all conduct, business and personal. It could be our modern world, our less disciplined upbringing, the broken families, drugs....but whatever you might blame it on doesn''t really matter. Things always change and we are in a downward spiral in this period of history. The end of one period is just the beginning of another, so there is eternal hope and promise no matter what the present looks like.
Traditional retailers are suffering because profits are being squeezed. Sources that used to be strictly wholesale now sell direct. Middlemen are being pushed aside. Retailers with high overheads are wondering what they can do to differentiate themselves from high volume, low overhead and low priced sellers. It isn''t just diamonds and jewelry. It is nearly all retailing that has problems.
While I always advocate to my wife to buy from local merchants, we find we buy increasingly from Internet sites. It just makes sense to spend your hard earned money where it is most effective in buying power. Does this make me down on retailers? No...
My firm has long supported the sales efforts of B&M retailers in our local Philadelphia diamond district. We help them make sales while at the same time act as a consumer''s watch dog when an occasional problem arises. This creates trust, not a bad environment. They may not all like us, but most respect our integrity and intentions. Those who sell phoney paperwork or misrepresented diamonds wish we''d just go away. We can live with it.
In the end, we are pro-retail, pro-consumer and anti-lying, cheating, and stealing. We are pro-profits and anti-ripoffs.
It is a balancing act, a tight-rope walk, every day. We make mistakes, too. If anyone claims they know we have an agenda that hurts them, then maybe you should wonder why we might. If they seem like "good guys" then possibly you are being misled by their skilled delivery. The really good guys in our business have nothing to fear from us.
What I have seen over quite a few years is a gradual degradation of ethics which is not just inside the jewelry business, but is a general lowering of all conduct, business and personal. It could be our modern world, our less disciplined upbringing, the broken families, drugs....but whatever you might blame it on doesn''t really matter. Things always change and we are in a downward spiral in this period of history. The end of one period is just the beginning of another, so there is eternal hope and promise no matter what the present looks like.
Traditional retailers are suffering because profits are being squeezed. Sources that used to be strictly wholesale now sell direct. Middlemen are being pushed aside. Retailers with high overheads are wondering what they can do to differentiate themselves from high volume, low overhead and low priced sellers. It isn''t just diamonds and jewelry. It is nearly all retailing that has problems.
While I always advocate to my wife to buy from local merchants, we find we buy increasingly from Internet sites. It just makes sense to spend your hard earned money where it is most effective in buying power. Does this make me down on retailers? No...
My firm has long supported the sales efforts of B&M retailers in our local Philadelphia diamond district. We help them make sales while at the same time act as a consumer''s watch dog when an occasional problem arises. This creates trust, not a bad environment. They may not all like us, but most respect our integrity and intentions. Those who sell phoney paperwork or misrepresented diamonds wish we''d just go away. We can live with it.
In the end, we are pro-retail, pro-consumer and anti-lying, cheating, and stealing. We are pro-profits and anti-ripoffs.
It is a balancing act, a tight-rope walk, every day. We make mistakes, too. If anyone claims they know we have an agenda that hurts them, then maybe you should wonder why we might. If they seem like "good guys" then possibly you are being misled by their skilled delivery. The really good guys in our business have nothing to fear from us.