The Pros and Con’s of Traditional Jewelry Shopping

The way we shop and purchase products is rapidly changing, but before we discuss the growing trend of shopping for and buying Diamond Jewelry Online, we should revisit the traditional method of shopping via brick and mortar jewelry stores.  Since the dawn of jewelry shopping, eager consumers have relied heavily on their local jeweler to offer the best designs available to the market.  The prospective buyer would drive to the store, browse through the glass cases, and try on a few pieces.  They would physically touch, visually examine at close range each piece, and develop a relationship with their sales person along the way.  While this method of shopping does allow the consumer to see the piece of jewelry they will purchase prior to making a financial commitment, this type of shopping experience is fairly limited.  Brick and mortar stores can only maintain a certain stock of jewelry, so the consumer’s selection is smaller than those that sell jewelry online.  Also, these physical diamond jewelry stores have a higher overhead than electronic retailers and must charge higher prices for their products.  Consumers that buy jewelry from a brick and mortar store can touch and feel their purchases prior to making their decisions, but they do so at a price.

The Emerging Trend

While many of these brick and mortar stores are sure to endure into the future, as there will always be those that do not trust the online shopping experience, electronic commerce has exploded, and not just for those buying diamond jewelry online.  In 2010, online shopping increased by fifteen percent, according to an article from the Dayton Business Journal (http://www.bizjournals.com/dayton/news/2010/12/27/online-shopping-jumps-15-percent-in-2010.html).  They report that according to SpendingPulse, a report from MasterCard, US consumers spent approximately $36 billion between Halloween and Christmas Eve.  While retail sales in general have increased by 3.3 percent this year over last, the rise in Internet shopping is dramatically higher; in fact it is the busiest online sales season EVER.  This trend is not just confined to the United States, The Telegraph, a British newspaper, has also reported that major store chains have reported record breaking online sales, and that those shopping online on Christmas Eve increased 42% over last year.

The Pros and Cons of Buying Diamond Jewelry Online

So, the shopping experience is moving online, but what are the advantages and disadvantages of this?  As you can imagine, the most significant drawback of purchasing diamond jewelry online is the inability to physically see the piece prior to purchasing it.  Fortunately, to counter this difficulty, most of the online jewelry retailers will offer easy exchange or return programs.  On the other hand, the benefits of online shopping are many.  As previously mentioned, consumers that purchase diamond jewelry online will almost always do so at a lower costs than those that pay the overhead of brick and mortar stores.  In addition, online consumers can do so from the comfort of their homes and do not need to spend the time driving from store to store and having to converse with jewelry salespeople.  Also, when shopping online, consumers have all the web retailers at their fingertips and not only does their selection dramatically increase, but so does their ability to compare and contrast quality, customer service, and costs.  Online consumers can read product reviews, experiences had by real people who have bought these products in the past, and truly arm themselves with as much knowledge as possible prior to making a purchase.

Advances in Technology

In order to buy diamond jewelry online, consumers typically require more interactive web tools in order to fully understand a product that they cannot physically touch.  In an academic study titled, “Consumer Decision Making in Online Shopping Environments: The Effects of Interactive Decision Aids,” by Gerald Hauble and Valerie Trifts, they discovered that online retailers are creating highly interactive and personalized shopping environments for their clients in order to aid their decision making efforts.  Included in these “shopping aids” should be a way for consumers to compare and contrast different products.  The study finds that the online shopping environments that provide the most efficiency in making these comparisons see the best results.

One company that is taking shopping for diamond jewelry online to the next level is Bulgari.  They have teamed up with some savvy software developers and created a 3D interactive application for the iPhone and iPad that allows consumers to further explore their renowned Magsonic watch from the Bulgari Gerald Genta Collection.  The app allows the shopper an extremely high-resolution view of all the details of the watch along with complete consumer interaction.  The shopper can fully explore how it would feel to own and use this Bulgari watch with amazing detail.  Many other retailers have also created iPad and iPhone apps that allow consumers to virtually experience their products, begging the question: are smart phones and tablets going to drastically alter the way consumers shop?

What the Future Holds

Small portable electronic devises are sure to change the way that consumers shop, but also shopping for diamond jewelry online is going to become more consumer friendly and more technologically advanced for all involved. The latest news in the e-commerce world is Google’s increased efforts to own a larger share of the online shopping experience.  According to an article by Advertising Age (http://adage.com/digitalnext/post?article_id=147849), the Internet giant has launched the site, boutique.com, which helps consumers visually, shop and compare products.  The site will generate income for Google through a pay-per-click fee that the featured merchant will pay.  Google plans to allow users to create a personalized shopping experience, will offer recommended products based on consumers search and purchase activity, and will elicit a unique online shopping experience where consumers can browse a wealth of products.  Online shoppers will begin to create unique profiles shared within their social networks and shopping will no longer mean a trip to the local mall, but a highly interactive online experience.

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