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Retooling: Polishing Up a Diamond Website
Turns out, diamonds aren’t quite forever. Tiffany has been hit hard by the recession, national chain Christian Bernard Jewelers shut down, and mining giant De Beers has slashed its workforce by 23 percent to cut costs.
A perfect time, thinks one company, to start expanding.
Blue Nile, an online diamond retailer based in Seattle, sees the downturn as an opportunity to munch up some market share, according to TechFlash.
The 10-year-old company saw its sales dip 5 percent and profits decrease by 11 percent in the second quarter, but that’s nothing compared to the 99 percent profit drop that has smacked De Beers. Blue Nile is reportedly still profitable, and since it’s online-only, has lower overhead—and no debt.
So the CEO is sinking money into sales and customer service—especially into pumping up its website. Good thinking: We personally find it less than zingy. Even when times are tough, shouldn’t you feel excited to buy a diamond? Blue Nile gets it, and wants to convert more visitors into buyers. An analyst told TechFlash the company is already gaining on other retailers.
Obviously, overhauling a substantial e-commerce site is an expensive undertaking. But even if you don’t feel like your business is flush, the competition might be even worse off than you are. This could be a great opportunity to grow your market share before the spending tide starts coming back up—and your approach doesn’t have to be pricey.
Rethink your pricing strategy. Maybe it’s time to learn about online advertising and social media. John Quelch, who teaches marketing at Harvard Business School, suggests emphasizing homey values. There’s always an upside to the downturn—you just have to sniff it out.
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[...] Blue Nile Invests in Growing Market Share in Recession | Recessionwire http://www.recessionwire.com/2009/08/21/blue-nile-invests-in-website-for-market-share-recession – view page – cached Recessionwire is a user's guide to the recession, a pop-up site featuring recession news, work and job-hunting advice, personal finance and spending tips, cultural analysis, and humor., The online diamond retailer has low overhead and no debt. So even though sales and profits are down, it's much better off than the competition. So Blue Nile is investing in a website overhaul and other strategies to that it comes out the downturn golden. — From the page [...]
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