Bee Jewellery, a manufacturer and wholesaler of gold and silver jewellery in Australia, New Zealand and Canada, has launched a website which enables consumers to make online purchases directly from their local Bee stockist.
Bee Jewellery managing director Steven Sesselmann said the company’s new website, www.beejewel.com.au, features the most popular Bee products and has links to every online stockist.
“We noticed that many new online jewellery businesses were starting up and we were concerned that our clients might start to lose marketshare because although many were keen on establishing their own website they did not have the knowledge or budget for a full-on e-commerce site,” he said.
“In response to this problem we came up with the idea of giving our loyal Bee Retail System customers a fully stocked online shop for free,” he said.
Customers visiting Bee Jewellery’s website can now click onto their local jeweller’s ‘website’ to make a purchase. Bee Jewellery collects the money for the purchase, drop-ships the products to the customer on behalf of the retailer, credits the retailer’s account with the sale price (less a drop-shipping fee) and sends them an invoice for the wholesale value of the item.
“The retailer makes a mint and doesn’t need to lift a finger,” said Sesselmann.
He said the company is aiming to provide all its stockists with a basic website linked to the http://www.beejewel.com.au site by the year’s end.
“The basic store and the inventory are all identical, but for a very small fee, the retailer can have their own front page customised to show their store’s individuality,” he said.
“We have so far found that most of the retailers love the idea of their own custom web page, and many have featured pictures of their stores and some even have pictures of themselves at the jeweller’s bench, sending a clear message that they are ‘real’ jewellers.”
Bee Jewellery currently has around 45 retailers’ websites on its site.
“We are hoping the online site will help drive further business into our retailers’ stores,” said Sesselmann.
He said retailers who already have their own domain name could have that domain name pointing directly to their BeeJewel.com.au page, so the consumer can just point their browser to the store.
For more information phone Bee Jewellery on (02) 8338 1200 or visit www.beejewel.com.au