JCK- Harrison Group Consumer Jewelry Study
The JCK Harrison Group consumer jewelry study has recently been asked an interesting question, only to have a very shocking response. “Thinking about fine jewelry, what brand or company that makes and/or sells jewelry comes to mind first?”, was the question that was asked. The very surprising response was Zales as the No. 1 jewelry brand. Next came Kay Jewelers, which tied in with Zales and Tiffany & Co. in the past.
The study gained 908 responds from people who bought fine jewelry in the past two years. Even after advertising jewelry for a decade, most jewelry buyers still have retail as their first thought, instead of the product by brand.
57% of the responds wrote the names of local independent jewelers, regional chains, websites, or brands, but non were good enough to make the top ten on the list.
Tiffany scored No. 3 in the top ten and Cartier was No. 8. Both companies also have very strong retail mechanism.
A JCK study done in 1999Â posed a question on how familiar people are with brands. They had four top answers, which included Tiffany, Cartier, De Beers and Van Cleef & Arpels.
The study resulted in 42% of respondents being “very familiar” with Tiffany, 35.5% very familiar with Cartier and 20.6% with De Beers.
Since the study in 1999 there have been much more jewelry advertising pages in consumer fashion, lifestyle and shelter magazines. Hence, brands like Heart On Fire and Scott Kay were expected to be mentioned in unaided recall. But there were only five top names- Zales, Kay, Tiffany, Jared and De Beers- that remained the same.
Prices have become another issue to the consumer world with Blue Nile and other jewelry websites raising their costs. Such websites happen to have lower prices than jewelry stores, for competition causes. When consumers actually buy from jewelers they expect a valid reason as to why they should pay jewelers more than websites.
The study concluded by saying that jewelry retailers should be pleased to know that retailers still have the upper hand in fine jewelry.   Â