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Jewellery World launched a new jewellery pavilion inside the AGHA fair this February 21st-24th at Olympic Park with 16 exhibitors. These 16 companies used the fair to reach out to their customers and bring a better service and connection at a tough time of the year. With all that is happening around the world, it has never been so important to connect with local suppliers to help your business.
According to AGHA’s official figures, the fair was a solid success across the entire giftware sector, but of course, our focus is on jewellery and many have been curious as to how a jewellery pavilion would fare inside a wide-aspect tradeshow.
The answer is a resounding ‘very well.’
Jewellery suppliers in the pavilion saw a busy four days with good traffic and very satisfactory sales. As a whole, the group is keen to repeat the experience in Melbourne in August, and the pavilion is, of course, open to any other companies who may be interested in joining.
Our favourite comment from a participating supplier was “This takes me back to how we used to do the fairs and it’s been a great success for us.” Other exhibitors were equally happy. “Let’s get booking in for the Melbourne August fair and next year here at Olympic Park,” said one, while others added, “Can’t wait to see how Melbourne goes,” and “There were a couple of dead spots but all in all it was very successful for us.”
And that was the point of the whole exercise – to help jewellery businesses with better business opportunities. “Thank you for organising it – it was a great success for us,” and “Thanks for all your help, the event ran really well.” Comments like this make it all worthwhile.
Visitors pleased with a dedicated jewellery space
The pavilion saw a great deal of visitors both from mixed-product retailers as well as jewellery retailers.
Jewellery retailers in particular found the pavilion and the fair as a whole a very worthwhile experience and easier to get to than other locations.
“We loved the fair and felt it was much better at Homebush with better layout and choice of jewellery. The free parking was great too and easy access,” said Helen from Advance Jewellers who travelled from the ACT to attend.
Tim from Facet Jeweller in Cockburn Gateway, WA was initially concerned at how a jewellery pavilion would sit in a general gift fair. “I didn’t expect a lot of jewellery as a first time but I was not disappointed,” he said, acknowledging the wide range and quality of suppliers in the pavilion.
It was great to see so many retailers who are buying group members at the fair, reminding us that our industry is really one big family. Events like this help strengthen ties between the various strands of our industry and the atmosphere was friendly, busy and enjoyable.
“As I was in Sydney I visited the fair and it was beneficial for me to meet the suppliers and plan the year ahead with them, so I used the fair to help strategise for the year. It was successful for me,” said Stephen from Stephens Jewellery in Shepparton, Victoria, a Showcase member.
The companies to be commended for taking the first steps in this revival of a mixed fair are: A M Imports, Australian Precious Stones, Bead Them Up, Bolton Gems, Cocktail Jewellery, Diva Designs, Duraflex Group, Graham Cohen, Ikecho, Jewellery Centre, KL Diamonds, Oblo Jewellery, Pastiche, Searay, Sparkle Impex, TJD Silver. With more exhibitors looking to join in for the Melbourne fair we are looking to secure a good position for the Jewellery World Pavilion at the Melbourne fair this 1-5 August.
And The Winner Is…
The raffle for the 5.5ct lab-grown tennis bracelet donated by Craig Miller of JC Jewels, was drawn at 1pm on the last day of the fair by Hannes Coetsee from Leading Edge Group and went to Roula Nicolacopoulos of Diann Darling Jewellers in Engadine NSW, a member of Nationwide buying group.
We spoke to Roula about the fair and her winnings:
“Lab Grown is something I have been pondering for some time so winning the bracelet will give me a chance to have a look and make some decisions for the future. Thank you, Craig at JC Jewels, for donating the bracelet to the fair.
“I do normally come to the gift fair and originally started because I used to visit Pandora. I find new trends there and keep an eye on the market as a whole and to be honest I was surprised to see so many jewellers there, especially Sparkle Impex and Bolton Gems, whom I do business with. I was concerned that they may sell to gift people but am totally happy if they do even if it is twice a year, so long as they do at retail prices with a small discount so as not to cheapen the industry.
“Christmas was ordinary for us but I always try to make the store look nice with new product as there has been a shift on spending habits. People come in all year round and buy big pieces although not as many as Thomas Sabo or Pandora which sell pretty well throughout the year.
“It is great to get some nice pieces in new at the start of the year as I always keep stocks up all year round with great product to entice my customers. I support the companies that support Nationwide hence I spent quite a lot with them at the fair.”