GEMVARA STUDY

Luxury E-commerce : Gemvara case

1. The main challenge starts-ups that have never sold in B&M stores are going to face is about financial issues. Indeed, owning a store costs a lot of money. First of all the rent : very often tremendously expensive, it’s an unknown issue for the online sellers.

      Then, the employees costs. They’ll need extra employees like people to ring up sales or stock        

      inventory. Other sizable costs include utilities, business insurance, property taxes or                            

      merchandise inventory do have to be taken into account.

      On the other hand, established jewelers who want to start selling online after selling in B&M    

      Stores are going to face a creative issue. Indeed, living in the e-generation, they’ll have to         

      Be extra innovative and do something never seen before because otherwise, people won’t

      pay enough attention.

2)   The arguments against selling luxury jewelry online would be : the online jewelry business is

      extremely difficult to break into ; people don’t see nor touch the jewel itself in real life so they

      can’t really be sure about the quality ; the fragility of the product : it can be damaged during

      the delivery.

3)   I personally do think that it can work but it’s going to be hard. According to the competition

      and where they are trying to go on a marketing level it’s definitely going to be even more

      complicated. However, Gemvara strategies with a more elaborated website, with the

      personalized chat service, or the brand ambassadors are strong and clever alternatives to

      study. It can work perfectly on the longevity of time but they will have to constantly innovate.

      Why not working with influencers in the future to promote their products and have a larger

      platform ?

      All in all, I would say that it’s possible and it seems achievable with adapted marketing

      strategies.

4)   I think Plukka had really good business strategy and vision but they had not enough                    

      reputation to just open their online website and act like they had big notoriety when the competition is full of names like Cartier, Buccelati or Tiffany & Co. They went too fast.

5)   Out of all the three, I think Jewel Street is the one which is going to survive. First of all, their

      website is really appealing and easy to use. They have chosen to directly put their history and

      values on the forefront which is a good idea. You get to choose directly if you want to go for

      women products or men ones, and you can choose the designer as well.

      On the other hand, the other websites are less attractive. In addition, they both want to do too

      much things. Jewel Street sells up-and-coming designers : they choose their speciality. Gleem

      acts as merchandiser, appraiser and photographer while FineJewels24 is a marketplace of

      jewelry brands and designers : they try to do too much things instead of focusing on one

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