“We are living in an unprecedented situation so we cannot accurately anticipate how we will live with the consequences. However, being a crisis which directly affects both our business and our clients, we need to depend on the time of restructuring and rehabilitation of the global and national economy.
however, we always find in adversity the opportunity for reinvention and innovation, we are analyzing all possible ways of taking this time as a tool to train ourselves and prepare for when the time comes to see the end of the contingency.”
“I think that the post covid 19 stage will show us a bleak panorama, where many businesses in our sector will disappear, there will be a reduction of points of sale and collaborators of our companies and a concentration in fewer points of sale as a result of the cessation of activity.
I believe that the industry will not undergo a paradigm shift, as has been said, but it does have to produce a change in its efficiency and productivity.
How should it be done?
Confinement has increased the use and connection to the internet, but does this mean that online sales have increased? … several studies show that this has not occurred … even the impact of returns of purchases made online that represent millions of euros is being valued economically as they reduce profit margins.
It is clear that the traditional businesses that do not adapt to digitization will tend to disappear or be reduced to a very small and almost subsistence niche. I think the way forward should be the figital business, a mix of physical and digital… I mean, for some time now, retailers have become places where people can touch, feel, try and receive information and arguments from professionals, jewelry and watch advisors on the products and then the customer will probably search the internet to find the piece at the best price.
Our business based on the purchase of stocks and a system sell in-sell out has worked while we have been able to support financially and with a more or less controlled balance the supply and demand. We could also add to this, the appreciation of the price of metal and precious stones in historical stocks and the depreciation of the price of watches and brands.
Well, all this has been a vertical system, with its established channels but with the emergence of brands on the internet with their own online stores and the acquisition of groups of online stores, not linked directly with the brands, it makes the consumer move away more and more from a qualitative sale to a sale whose engine is to get the piece at the best price and with all the guarantees … as well as the possibility of returning the piece …
I believe that the brands and the retailers have to look for a meeting point where the financial expenses of the retailers for the purchase of stocks are reduced, either with deposits of certain products (and less margins), or by sharing benefits in the on-line sales and giving the quality services that the luxury sector demands, or a combination of both.
The integration of manufacturers’ stocks in the retailers’ webs would increase the visibility of the products together with cooperative and geo-localized campaigns with the retailer, would give greater reaction capacity, agility in the service of the piece and would allow to react almost instantaneously to the manufacturers.
The vintage or second-hand market and actions like Bonhill’s, should be inserted in our web pages, allowing the client (who trusts us and our reputation), to interact with your platform … in this way we would get more clients than perhaps out of shame don’t come to the store to sell their jewelry or watches or make changes with your Watchupgrade program … I think it would increase the chances of closing more deals.
I do not see online sales as a panacea for businesses like ours and basing a strategy exclusively on it can give results in a certain range of prices and products but it won’t work for everything. It is necessary to be present very actively and quickly adapt to clients who have become accustomed to buying from anywhere and at any time … we should see what happens with product returns and the impact that it has on our income statement.
In conclusion, I would say that we have to be very cooperative, not only with brands but among colleagues, so as not to lose sales, share profits, make a great effort in the digital world and create alliances that, economically, have a positive impact on the entities that participate.”
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“I think that the post covid 19 stage will show us a bleak panorama, where many businesses in our sector will disappear, there will be a reduction of points of sale and collaborators of our companies and a concentration in fewer points of sale as a result of the cessation of activity.
