The Jewellers Guardian system will replace the buying group’s existing manual benchmarking analysis service, which has been available to members for almost 15 years and aims to provide retailers with an opportunity to see how their individual store performance compares against the wider jewellery industry.
Nationwide managing director Colin Pocklington said that while the manual system had been met with reasonable interest in the past, he decided it was time to take the system to a higher level and implement a web-based platform that would be easily accessible, user-friendly and available 24/7.
The new system, which will be launched this month at the buying group’s conference in Cairns, Queensland, allows retailers to instantly compare their key performance indicators (KPIs) against other stores.
“Our members will have immediate feedback on whether their trading results are above or below the industry trend,” Pocklington said.
Retailers will also be able to compare their store’s performance against industry best practice targets that have been established based on Pocklington’s extensive knowledge and experience in retail sales analysis.
“I have been analysing jewellery store trading figures and financials for over 40 years now, and have distilled this knowledge down to the key indicators that really matter to individual stores,” he explained.
Some of the key indicators that the system uses to determine a business’s health include mark-ups, gross profit percentage, and the relationships between rent and labour costs and sales.
A red or blue marker will flag whether the user’s store is performing above or below the industry average, and retailers can directly send their figures to Nationwide for further analysis and advice on how to improve areas of concern.
“Stores that use this system, and work on their ‘red’ KPIs will experience improved sales and profits,” Pocklington stated. “Retailing is a science with numerous small, but important, fundamentals that drive success. The Jewellers Guardian system measures each of these fundamentals.”
Another useful feature that wasn’t previously available through the manual system is a month-to-month sales tracker. Reminders to update the store’s sales figures are automatically sent at the start of each month, and the system depicts increases and decreases in a graph to show the business’s growth.
Improved business management
By coincidence, the launch of the system comes hot on the heels of the recent Bevilles jewellery chain collapse in April. Analysis undertaken by Jeweller and a number of industry experts suggested that had Bevilles taken earlier action to bring its KPIs into line with industry standards, it could have avoided the closing of a number of its stores.
“For both rent and labour costs, Bevilles percentages were too high compared to what they should be for the industry, and that’s basically one of the main factors that brought them undone,” Pocklington said.
It is anticipated that the Jewellers Guardian system will enable retailers to take immediate action or seek assistance before a business’s situation becomes critical.
Pocklington said he “absolutely” recommended that all members use the system once it is available.
“If retailers are not using it, they’re not managing their business,” he stated.
Nationwide is the largest jewellery buying group in Australasia, with more than 500 members across Australia and New Zealand.
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