Artificial Intelligence (AI) is clearly the flavour of the month and I will readily admit that you will probably see me writing more articles about this topic and its application in business. Most jewellers I know have thought about AI or use it on a very light level, like using it to assist in writing letters, especially as many of us find grammar and spelling a challenge, including myself.
I am always thinking of the diamond wholesaler and diamond jewellery retailer. This month, I will suggest how I would use AI in this space. I often say that one needs to take a birdseye view of their business to identify one’s strengths and weaknesses without getting distracted by the minutia of the day-to-day challenges.
What if you were to ask ChatGPT who it sees as your target market? Why do I pose this question? The AI could interpret how you are seen in the digital space. Is it correct? Is that how you want to be viewed and or found? If not, what changes do you need to make? AI could help you determine the average price point and pricing optimisation that you could be using to attract more customers. How could you utilise AI to analyse market trends, competitors’ prices, and customer behaviour to optimise pricing strategies? Dynamic pricing based on demand and supply can improve profitability.
If you’re not familiar with dynamic pricing, I will give you two good examples. If you are buying something that is priced in US dollars, the pricing is constantly recalibrated to the exchange rate. An interesting example is when you buy diamonds online from some of the big players, their pricing is adjusting itself every hour based on demand. If oval diamonds are popular, the system will look at what is being searched. Depending on supply and the region the searches are coming from, stones may become more expensive because of supply and demand, and the dynamic pricing tool being used.
You could utilise AI to identify emerging fashion and jewellery trends based on data from social media, fashion blogs, and industry influencers. You aim to stay ahead of the trends. What questions can you ask AI to help you identify them? Search the market and then be better prepared when you go to a trade show as to what you should be looking for. AI can help segment customers based on their preferences, demographics, and buying behaviour, enabling targeted marketing campaigns that resonate with specific groups at specific times of the year.
I ask, what are the most popular websites for women’s fashion in my region? Can you see patterns, look at the colours and even how the big brands lay out their websites and look for the key elements that work for you? Remember, they have spent millions on marketing and research.
I can tell you that our competitors constantly monitor our website and implement changes to theirs as fast as we bring them out. It might be irritating, but hey, that’s competition. What’s the famous saying by Oscar Wilde? “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.” But my favourite is by Robin Sharma. “You know you’re winning when you see you’re being copied.”
I asked AI what it saw as the next big jewellery trend. Leave out the obvious, being sustainability and personalisation, the other big three were vintage jewellery, big and bold colours and incorporating jewellery into tech. With the last one, we see it is visible with the number of options for wrap-around watch cases you can get for an Apple Watch. I haven’t seen any beautiful jewellery incorporating the Oura Ring yet, but it is a hugely popular worn tech item. What about a subtle Bluetooth earphone incorporated into a jewellery item, like earrings?
Have fun with AI, experiment, and the best advice I got recently was to learn to ask better questions. It took us all ages to do that with Google. We will now have to learn to do that with AI.
Trade well,
Rami Baron
President, Diamond Dealers Club Australia.
rami@ddca.org.au
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