THE EDGE INSIDER
Quarterly updates, news, and advice from Dick Abbott, President



Dick Abbot MY THOUGHTS: 2020! It can’t be over soon enough as far as I’m concerned. Don’t know about you, but I’m not setting my clock back on November 1 because I want out of this year ASAP.

Between the Covid-19 pandemic, the raging forest fires, the devastating hurricanes and the civil unrest all impacting lives in a short period of time, this has been a dreadful year. But stay strong! We’ll get through it.

During the shutdown earlier this spring, we felt called to help. We offered our full suite of educational programs free of charge and created 30 topic-specific webinars. Over 6,000 of you took advantage of these sessions, and for some it was transformational. We put together a turnkey marketing plan “With a little help from our friends” that we made available for $550 at cost. We had stores do as much as $80,000 in three days. We’re happy we were in a position to support you this way.

Reflecting on this year makes us even more grateful to have you as clients. We will never stop striving to provide you the very best solution to help you not only survive but to thrive in a difficult retail world. Our business has been surprisingly good under the circumstances so far, and I am thankful for that. Normalcy can’t come soon enough.

MISSION STATEMENT: To be the champion of the independent jeweler. We have always been driven by that statement. We have no outside funding, are not beholden to any investors, and will continue to innovate and refine the Edge until it exceeds our standards. When you win, we win and more than anything we want to equip you with the technology and functionality required to succeed in the jewelry industry. Having said that, know that our work will never be done.

INTERNALLY: We have grown our staff and made some departmental changes to better serve you going forward. We have added another software developer, which will enable us to accomplish more in each development cycle, and two new support technicians. Our support department has been restructured, we’ve extended emergency hours, and added two new support technicians, all of which is intended to bring a higher level of response from that team.

WE HAVE BEEN BUSY: Development continued during the shutdown. We have taken incremental steps to make the data exchange with our website partners more robust and added bi-directional functionality. We’ve completed coding and are now testing interfacing with Shopify and BigCommerce. You’ll see that soon. We added a dashboard and calendar early in the year and continue expanding the functionality of the calendar which now includes tasks and notifications. The next step is to include opportunities as we march toward providing you with a first-class CRM/Clienteling solution integrated into your store management system. Click here to view an overview of the Appointment Center and Click here to view the Associate Tasks tutorial

Other accomplishments in beta now are joined items (sell two items as one – report separately) required for the purpose of adding care programs and offering insurance. For the same reasons, you can add custom items as inventory and of course keep them out of inventory analysis. Customer clean-up finds customer records with incomplete contact information, making it a lot easier to update. Contacting customers has never been more important. A bevy of tools to aid with better descriptions on inventory items for both your receipts and your website. A link to the GIA diamond report has been added.

If you buy over $50,000 over-the-counter per year, you must have an Anti-Money Laundering procedure in place. To help you with that, we have added an option to check the seller against the OFAC sanction list with reporting.

Edgeuser is getting a makeover to be more effective with a knowledge base, blog, better documentation and video access, as well as being able to order accessories.

OUR PARTNERS HAVE BEEN BUSY: Our long-time partner DriveRetail has added a great tool for customer acquisition to its great retention solution. DriveRetail will find potential customers who meet your criteria. As a test, I imaged launching a new line, King Baby, an edgy men’s jewelry collection that I thought rockers and bikers would embrace. Through the filter I looked for high earning ($150,000+ a year) motorcycle owners within 15 miles of my kid’s jewelry store. I got 216 names and addresses to market to. Shotgun market no more.

Our website partner, Punchmark, is now in test to bi-directionally connect to the Edge. We’ve been able to upload inventory to Punchmark for years. When released we’ll be able to upload customer profiles, inventory, wish list items and get back sales and wish list items entered on the website and changes to customer information. We will continue to add functionality until you can do just about anything in the store and on the website. We’re very excited about offering you true omni-channel functionality.

GEMFIND has been working for some time now with data uploaded from the Edge to their websites. They are now internally testing a bi-directional integration with the Edge.

We are looking forward to taking this next step as soon as possible with both partners.

Podium has added the ability to accept payments. We are looking at how best to incorporate this functionality in the Edge to make digital sales as frictionless as possible. We plan to integrate Podium into opportunities in our CRM.

HELP US HELP YOU: There are two ways you can help us help you better. The support telephone number is (877) 844-0002. The support email address is support@ajsllc.com . If attempting to reach us through our website, please note you have two choices. One is for sales and the other support. Choosing the right one will result in a better response time. Emails to sales are not critical and may not be seen until the next day or on a weekend – Monday. The sooner we’re aware of your need for support the quicker we can respond. Another way to help us get better is for you to submit your ideas to improve the Edge. The method for doing so is via email to Features@ajsllc.com . Please limit requests to one idea per email. Tell us what you’d like to see added or improved and why.

THE FUTURE OF OUR INDUSTRY: Without a crystal ball, I won’t try to predict the future but I’m relatively confident that there will always be a demand for jewelry and the industry will continue to flourish. It just will be different. Current conditions favor the independent jeweler like we haven’t seen in many years. This is your time to gain market share. Consumers crave personal interaction after quarantining for what feels like forever. They have money if they have not lost their job and fewer ways to spend it. Few things lift spirits more than jewelry does, and more consumers are committed to supporting local merchants. You have a lot of positives going for you. Take advantage of them.

TECHNOLOGY will play a major part in retail and having The Edge with all its capabilities and partner relationships is a good starting point. Managing your business through a single portal and using a single database that contains all essential data is smart. We have discovered that many of you don’t fully know everything THE EDGE can do. Take a good look at its functionality before adding a costly third-party solution that is not better–or even as good as–what you already have built in. Our CRM solution is very useful now and will only get better in future updates. I can’t overemphasize the value of having all your information in a single repository.

Our inventory management is second to none. We manage inventory as the fluid asset it is. Understand the reports (we’ll help you), use the buying tools weekly and you will generate more profits and have a better cash flow. Forecast buying is a thing of the past today.

There are numerous ways to reach customers and prospective customers like texting, emails, Facebook, and Instagram that can be more effective than traditional methods. Our partner SnapRetail can help you create effective, easy-to-manage marketing plans that include the most popular ways of reaching potential and existing customers.

WEBSITES are essential today, but if you are looking to build one, I urge you to proceed with caution. Your website is the front window to your store, so do it right the first time rather than throwing something up quickly that will have to be redone. A standalone website may make you feel like you’ve done something, but it is hardly the equal of a website that is integrated with your POS system. Imagine the ability to do everything you can do in-store on your website. That’s the future, that’s an omni-channel solution.

Earlier I mentioned we developed software that bi-directionally connects the Edge with Shopify and BigCommerce. This is a lot better than standalone, but falls short of a solution enabling customers to earn and spend rewards points, set appointments using the store’s shared calendar, add items to their wish list, get help making buying decisions, etc. Customers demand convenience today and rank it as the number one reason to shop where they do. They’ll even pay a reasonable premium for that convenience. Think order on-line, pick up in store or even having it delivered. A simple concept that is credited for saving BestBuy. The potential that exists when the POS system and website are integrated is game changing. Don’t be hasty when considering a website.

CRM, customer relations management is a tool that can pay big dividends. There are several choices in the market today but before you’re sold on a standalone solution, I’d encourage you to get familiar with the functionality you currently have integrated into The Edge and use it. It will only get better and the thousands you’d spend on a third-party solution can be put to better use. This is not intended to be a knock on other CRM solutions, but to let you know you have a good one in The Edge already that will only get better and save you thousands of dollars.

Building a solid customer base has always been a driver of success in retail. Having a great digital presence, website, Instagram, Facebook, emails, text messages, etc. is a great way to attract potential customers, jewelry care plans and reward programs can encourage loyalty and help you keep them. You have two choices of jewelry care plans built into The Edge. Both can add profit to the bottom line. You get to keep half of the price of the plan, but more importantly, you’re sure to see these customer again and again to service their jewelry covered under care plans. Rewards programs are popular with millennials and encourage repeat purchasing with your store. Explore all the available ways to build your customer base and use that data proactively.

MY 2¢: Christmas business is likely to be better this year than years past for lots of reasons. Jewelry will be a likely choice. Start your marketing early and make sure your inventory is stocked with product with a high probability of selling and reorder frequently throughout the season. Check with The Edge Retail Academy for trending products, buy in moderation and reorder frequently as product sells.

Mine your database. Reach out to your best customers multiple times during the season. With The Edge you can identify your top 100, 200, 500, etc. customers and drop them into a file you can use for mailing, emailing and texting. Don’t make a pest of yourself but encourage them to come in 3 or 4 times during the season. Your top customers are the lifeblood of your business.

Our partner SnapRetail offers a freemium subscription that allows you to send 500 free emails a month. DriveRetail has great postcards that grab customers’ attention. Consider using both these resources to contact your very best clients a few times during the season. A small investment for a big potential return. Remember about 5% of your customers are responsible for 50% of your sales.

Thank you for your trust in us. We will not stop striving to be better so you can be better. Have a great 4th quarter and be safe and be well.

DICK








Edge Quarterly Newsletter | SnapRetail