How Is Lockdown Affecting Jewellery Shops?

Jewellery
shops will be among the last retail outlets to open because despite jewellery
being an important and sentimental aspect of people's lives, it's not deemed as
essential. Initially, it seemed that jewellers
would suffer as a result of the lockdown with few people wanting to buy
jewellery, but in fact a wave of proposals has occurred during lockdown. Many people had planned elaborate proposals
as part of holidays or city breaks, and with those trips off the cards for the
time being they have had to improvise.
Choosing an
engagement ring can be difficult, especially if your intended isn't the type to
wear a lot of jewellery, but the usual trick of casually browsing in a
jeweller's window to pick up hints isn't possible. It would ruin the surprise if you asked what
style of engagement ring your lover would like, so many people have been
ordering online or buying a placeholder ring to propose with, plus the promise
of a more personal choice when this is possible.
What many
jewellers with online businesses have seen is that there has been a steady sale
of rings, as well as other jewellery, but those without an online facility will
struggle unless they operate in a very different way (such as through personal
shoppers and stylists). When jewellers
are allowed to open again it is likely that the biggest sellers will be
engagement and wedding rings, especially with the number of weddings that have
been postponed this year.
In a physical
store staff must be very careful to clean jewellery that is tried on, if they
allow this at all. Stock is kept behind
glass anyway, so there is minimal risk of cross contamination as long as any
pieces that are handled are cleaned properly before being put back. The nature of some jewellery may mean that
cleaning with alcohol based products is unsuitable, in which case gloves should
be worn to handle and try on this jewellery, unless it is feasible to sanitise
the customer's skin before trying anything on.
The nature of
jewellery shopping does mean close contact between the items and the customer,
even if physical distancing between customers and staff is possible. Remember, when choosing an engagement or
wedding ring there will be two customers involved, so ensuring that distancing
is observed may mean using an appointment based system and allowing customers
to order and collect their items at a designated time.
Jewellers
offering piercing services may have to suspend these for a time due to the
close proximity of the piercer to the client, but on the plus side this can
free up an area of a store for customer space, cleaning stations or displaying
more stock. At Amore Argento we sell
through jewellers and direct to customers, so we are lucky not to have to rely
on physical trade to stay in business.
We are taking every precaution possible to keep our staff safe,
including social distancing where it is not possible to work from home, regular
cleaning of touch points and frequently used equipment and cleaning of all items
before they are packed for dispatch.
Our website
is built for home shopping, with videos of each piece showing every side, and
quick links to matching pieces. This
allows our customers to have a truly interacting shopping experience from the
comfort of their own homes. We are
looking forward to our high street colleagues being able to re-open soon and
will do everything we can to support them through this difficult time.
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