An online survey conducted by Shopittome.com found that 49 percent of the registered users of the online service were spending less on clothing and accessories online this year, but that 16 percent were spending more that they were one year ago, www.diamonds.net says.
About one third were spending the same amount as they did in 2008. When it came to splurging on something special, 38 percent said they were holding off on this habit for now; 10 percent, however, reported that they were spending on jewelry. Thirty-four percent of the respondents were still splurging on shoes, 22 percent picked handbags, 15 percent chose work clothes and 12 percent listed formalwear.
Shopittome.com, a personal shopper website, noted that 940 respondents took the survey, which was conducted during the first week in June. Most of the shoppers reported that they hit the Internet to find good deals. The majority of respondents said that, to them, a deal is at least 40 percent, or more, off the regular price. Sixty-three percent of respondents admitted to shopping online while at work.
According to ComScore’s monthly analysis of U.S. consumer activity at top online properties, website traffic in the jewelry, luxury goods and accessories category experienced double-digit growth in May 2009, www.israelidiamond.co.il writes. The number of visitors at these websites rose by 13% to nearly 18 million. Some of the increase is attributed to Mother’s Day and other seasonal events.
Among the most trafficked sites was Swarovski.com, which led with 2.4 million visitors – this constitutes a 125% increase over April. Other sites in the category that experienced heightened popularity were Kayjewelers.com (up 47% to 973,000 visitors) and Tiffany.com (up 15% to 812,000 visitors).
Due to seasonal traffic other gift goods, like flowers, souvenirs and postcards, also showed a 16-percent growth scoring 36 million visitors.
Online sales are expected to more than double to $34.6 billion (GBP 21.3 billion) by the end of 2011, making up for the expected decline in trade at U.K. high street stores, according to www.diamonds.net. A survey by online payment system PayPal predicted that sales in physical stores will plummet by up to $13.5 billion (GBP 8.3 billion) by the end of 2011 while online sales are expected to rise to GBP 21.3 billion from just less than $14.6 billion (GBP 9 billion), resulting in modest growth for overall sales.
Carl Scheible, managing director of PayPal U.K., argued that the report shows that the value of online retail "can no longer be dismissed as a sideshow." Scheible said that the growth of Internet shopping will prop up a declining general retail sector. He noted that improvements in online shopping will continue to drive consumers until they are spending one in every 14 pounds online.
The report, which was carried out by Experian, forecasts that from 2008 to 2011 high street sales will fall by up to 1.4 percent. Nearly 9 million adults shop online at least once a week, the report showed. According to the report, which was based on interviews with 1,000 adults, 24 percent of U.K. adults now believe that online shopping will become the norm and that the high street will eventually die out. More than half of the consumers polled believe that high-street retailers could significantly improve their websites and sales processes to "enhance the customer experience."
Stuller has partnered with Gemvision Corp. on an iPhone application that allows users to pick out a diamond engagement ring, try it out for size using an image of their own hand, share the image with friends and find a jeweler to buy the ring from, www.idexonline.com informs.
IPhone users can choose from among thousands of downloadable applications that allow them to use their phones while on the go to do everything from play video games to manage their money to get workout tips.
Soon to be added to the list is the diamond ring application unveiled by Stuller during the Las Vegas jewelry shows, which is called "Live Diamond Try-On (brought to you by Red Box Diamonds)." The application will be offered for free to iPhone users beginning in late summer via the iPhone store, said Kerry Hand, Stuller's executive director of marketing services and public relations.
Hand and Ryan Koning, director of advertising, communications and events for Gemvision, demonstrated how the program will work.
The first step is to use the iPhone's touch screen to go to the application, which then prompts a user to choose a diamond by carat size and shape, and then a mounting by precious-metal color, either white or yellow. There are a limited number of ring styles currently available through the application, but these include classic styles and additional choices that feature side stones.
After the user has made a diamond and precious-metal color selection, it's time for the try on. The user then takes a picture of her hand using the iPhone camera. Then, using the iPhone's touch screen, the user can position the ring onto the picture of the hand, adjusting for a perfect fit. The iPhone can also be held directly on the hand with the image tilted to enjoy the "sparkle" of the diamond image.
The image of the person's hand, with the chosen ring, can now be e-mailed to friends and family, posted on Facebook, Twitter, etc.
At this point, the iPhone user can also track down where to find the ring through the "find a jeweler" function of the Live Diamond Try-On application, which uses the phone's GPS function to pull up Google maps and place virtual pins on the nearest Red Box Diamond Jewelers, ranking each one selected based on proximity, Hand says.
"This is the beauty of the application. It drives consumers to dream big and them pushes them to spend big with Red Box Diamond retailers," Hand says.
The new application is one of a number of new programs Stuller is offering that are designed to let jewelers take advantage of digital technologies to give consumers expanded options. During the JCK Las Vegas show, Stuller also unveiled the Virtual Diamond Selector program, which allows retail jewelers to go online with customers to choose from 10,000 diamonds by size, shape or color, and the Customized Earring Program, which provides retail jewelers with the chance to customize a pair of diamond earrings exactly the way the customer wants them.
Another new option, Stuller's 3D Ring Engraver, allows retail jewelers to personalize a wedding band while sitting in the store with their customer, who can choose a unique message and a particular font, and then get a dynamic 3D preview of what the ring will look like once it is inscribed.
