The Retail Landscape: A Multiple-Choice Quiz

Columnist Jan Brassem tests readers’ knowledge of the current luxury landscape with a nine-question pop quiz.

Michelle Graff michelle.graff@nationaljeweler.com

I am going to write clever columns on the current price of diamonds, about how to forecast the price of gold using complex algorithms, about the New York Yankees, and about our expensive Pomeranian puppy whom we’ve named Lamont Cranston, but not today.

I’d rather write a piece on the current state of the jewelry industry.

Jan Brassem is a senior partner at MainBrace Global Partners, a jewelry advisory and & firm with offices in New York and Hong Kong. E-mail him at Jan@MainBraceGlobalPartners.com.Under the notion that a cynic is nothing but a premature realist, let’s see if you can answer--correctly, mind you--the following nine multiple-choice questions on the current status of the business.

The questions and answers should give you an idea of industry trends and if you are managing your store with those current trends in mind. The sources to the questions are listed in case you want to read further.

Please answer the questions as best you can. The answers follow, with a brief explanation if they are not self-explanatory.

Quiz (Circle either A, B or C)

1. According to a recent article in the New York Post, De Beers was forced to cut diamond prices by as much as 9 percent as:
A) The conscious uncoupling of Kermit and Miss Piggy has caused a sharp decline in marriage rates in the U.S.
B) U.S. couples are now spending less on diamond engagement rings.
C) More U.S. consumers are buying engagement rings set with smaller diamonds and/or colored stones.

2. A sizeable portion of U.S. consumers seem to be a changing their buying patterns. Which of the following statements is true?
A) Consumers have stopped buying bling.
B) Consumers now only buy for their own birthday.
C) Fourteen percent of consumers surveyed have started their holiday gift buying by Sept. 4.

3. Celebrity and model Kate Upton was seen wearing what jewelry brand in the most recent issue of WKorea Style Magazine?
A) Joe’s “Make Your Own” for Kate
B) David Yurman
C) Tiffany & Co.

4. What could an expensive engagement ring mean for a marriage in the United States?
A) That the bride-to-be is very lucky.
B) That the marriage will last longer than one involving a less expensive engagement ring.
C) That the marriage will be shorter than one involving a less expensive engagement ring.

5. What’s the retail price

Banner will be right here …

of 40 mm Les Indomptables de Cartier pink flamingo décor brooch watch, which is 18-karat gold with diamonds and a quartz movement?
A) It comes free with a Big Mac and fries.
B) $234,790
C) $151,290

6. Apple recently announced that it has partnered with a well-known brand on one of its Apple Watch models. What’s the brand and what’s the price?
A) Disney and $14.95
B) Fossil and $249.99
C) Hermès and $1,500

7. In December 2014, McKinsey & Company (arguably, the foremost consulting firm in the United States) forecast the five-year sales trend for U.S. jewelry industry. What was their forecast?
A) Decline by 5 percent
B) Remain unchanged
C) Grow by 5 percent

8. The Kelly School of Business at Indiana University outlined an ingredient for success for an organization in decline. What was it?
A) Remain inert.
B) Increase management pressure to turn organization around.
C) Focus on innovation even with associated risks.

9. In their groundbreaking book, Strategic and Competitive Analysis (Prentice Hall, 2003), Fleisher and Bensoussan believe that the major step in developing a successful growth strategy is to:
A) Hope that things will work out.
B) Lower prices.
C) Analyze and use external environment and organizational strengths.

Answers (including sources)
1.
C. Lindsay Putnam, fashion editor, New York Post, Sept. 23, 2015

2.
C. Catherine Curan, retail editor, New York Post, Sept. 20, 2015

3.
C. WKorea Style Magazine, Sept. 18, 2015; What this particular question tells us is that it takes American celebrities to carry luxury to luxury-challenged countries, and Tiffany is the leader of the luxury jewelry “pack.”

4.
C. The Huffington Post, Oct. 3, 2014; based on an Emory University study

5.
C. Cartier

6.
C. National Jeweler, Sept. 10, 2015

7.
C. McKinsey & Company, by Linda Dauriz, Nathalie Remy, and Thomas Tochtermann, December 2014

8.
C. Kelly School of Business, Brandon Austin Mueller, et al., 2007

9.
C. Strategic and Competitive Analysis, Craig S. Fleisher and Babette E. Bensoussan, Prentice Hall, 2003 p. 2

Jan Brassem is a senior partner at MainBrace Global Partners, a global jewelry advisory and M&A firm with offices in New York and Hong Kong. You can e-mail him at Jan@MainBraceGlobalPartners.com.

Michelle Graffis the editor-in-chief at National Jeweler, directing the publication’s coverage both online and in print.