USA Today - Feb. 20th - Today

I didn't realize you had other websites, Jeremy.

A lot of retailers had disappointing sales this holiday season, from what I've read. It was very generous of you to offer us the exotics in spite of it all. I love mine!

Now here is a question for you: I fully expect to get favorable comments when I am wearing the exotics. People will ask where they came from. Shall we just go ahead and say that the pearls came from PP (even though there aren't any of these on the public website?) What is the best way to handle that question?
 
Jeremy et al,

Looks like trying times, for sure. Pearl Paradise has been there (dot-com) before. Our business, founded in 1984, has experienced numerous economic and fashion cycles. On top of that we've got the dollar/Euro to worry about. Such times offer the following advantages:

1) Separate the wheat from the chaff within an overheated industry.

2) Clearly identify core customers to the seller (Pearl-Guiders to the rescue!).
 
Pearl_dreams said:
I didn't realize you had other websites, Jeremy.

A lot of retailers had disappointing sales this holiday season, from what I've read. It was very generous of you to offer us the exotics in spite of it all. I love mine!

Now here is a question for you: I fully expect to get favorable comments when I am wearing the exotics. People will ask where they came from. Shall we just go ahead and say that the pearls came from PP (even though there aren't any of these on the public website?) What is the best way to handle that question?
Click to expand...

The part about combining Web sites was a slight misquote. One of the ways we are intending to streamline is through attrition and combining different Web site support positions into single positions - not combining Web sites. The "slashing prices 50% on unsold inventory" was wrong too. That is referring to the last minute sale 10 days before Christmas that offered five different styles, one of which was priced at half in order to clear it from inventory.

Overall the article was good. They almost always have some mistakes. At least these were minor; unlike the LA Business Journal article that was more than half wrong. I just wish all papers employed fact checkers like WSJ. That article was perfect. But every sentence was verified and checked for accuracy.

Regarding the exotics, I don't mind if you tell people where you got them. Just don't tell them to call us to get some for themselves;) We have absolutely none left!
 
Pearl_dreams said:
A lot of retailers had disappointing sales this holiday season, from what I've read. It was very generous of you to offer us the exotics in spite of it all. I love mine!

Now here is a question for you: I fully expect to get favorable comments when I am wearing the exotics. People will ask where they came from. Shall we just go ahead and say that the pearls came from PP (even though there aren't any of these on the public website?) What is the best way to handle that question?
Click to expand...

Very astute observation, Pearl_dreams. You're right. Retailers had horrible sales this holiday season. Internet sales, were a bit better, but still off. Which makes Jeremy's generosity even more generous. Everyone knows where mine came from. Hard to miss the calendar above my desk at work.
 
I normally do tell people who ask where my jewelry comes from, and am happy to point them to PearlParadise.com. They won't find the exotics, but there are plenty of other pearls to fall in love with!
 
yeah, I always tell people where my pearls came from, although, with the exotics we will have to mention it was a special offer. I get a lot of compliments on my pearls and have sent several people to PP and TPO and it always makes me happy. Although, sadly I am unsure if anyone bought anything because a lot of Japanese people don't seem to like internet shopping much. There is a lot less available here in general online than in the States. But then I figure it's their loss if hey don't follow up.
 
Interesting article. Thanks for clarifying what they got wrong as well, Jeremy. (I was wondering about the 50% off thing.) I would think that towards the end of a long period of economic growth (something like 6 years) luxury goods would go through a tough period. Expensive cars, boats and jewelry come to mind as the type of purchase the general population might defer. While pearls are necessary to many of us, lots of other people would consider them a luxury item!
 
Thanks for calling our attention to this and providing a fact check. I'm relieved to know that I wasn't missing a bunch of websites somewhere...

I hope the fluctuations in today's market serve to sharpen consumers' wits more than deter them from supporting good businesses like yours. No doubt I am an annoyingly good advertisement for any who will listen...my dad was the latest. :)
 
Hi
The economy generally is in a downturn here too, with money being very expensive. I noticed the beginning of a slowdown/recession this time last year. I used to do a stall with pearls at the local farmers' market and the spend there dropped off noticeably - even staples like eggs were selling less as people switched to the less aspirational and cheaper own-brand supermarket sorts of foods.
And it has also been noticeable that prices have dropped on ebay, which is certainly sending out a lot of offers to sellers (free gallery etc) (even gave me a ?25 off coupon as a buyer - thanks!)
I took a deep breath and increased my spending on advertising quite a lot and it has paid off well, with sales going up. I have also tried new places to sell pearls, although with some events only being annual that takes time to bear fruit - one that looked great on paper was a loss making disaster.
There are some pluses though - the $ is very low against the ? so buying pearls -always sold in $ - is great.
 
So Mikeyy,

Just what kind of a shop and where? Sounds interesting, have you ever done something like that before?

Pattye
so many pearls, so little time
 
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