Polygon Success Stories

A TRUE STORY FROM POLYGON

The Jewelry Industry's Marketplace Life used to be simpler. As independent retail jewelers, making your customer happy meant providing good service, educating the client, making sure you had what they needed, and offering decent value. Those things still count. But these days, when it comes to diamonds, it seems more people just care about price. And with the Internet, it's getting a lot worse with websites advertising wholesale to the public. That's been going on for years in the Yellow Pages, but on the Internet you really do have diamond wholesalers sell-ing direct to the public at price levels that really are close to wholesale. Last week a gentleman came in with a diamond he'd purchased on the Internet and he came into my store just to get an appraisal on it!

Selling diamonds, especially diamonds with certs, is one of our main sources of revenue, so we take the Internet challenge very seriously. Fortunately, we know how to fight back. Our diamond sales are up. Our revenues are up. And our profits are up. The secret is Polygon. One thing I like about Polygon is their mission is to provide the Internet tools retail jewelers need to survive in today's world. That's their specialty. And they've certainly done so in our case. We got on Poly about four years ago. Before that we used to buy 90+ percent of our diamonds from just four suppliers. Today, we buy 90+ percent of our diamonds through Polygon that means that instead of dealing with four suppliers, we'redealing with over 400

Here's what that does to our bottom line. First, any diamond we need we can find instantly. We can find it on the spot, with the customer still in the store. That means we save time, and we save customers. Second, it means we have to stock very little. That saves on carrying costs, insurance, you name it. Third, we can always beat anyone else on price, even the Internet wholesalers, if we want to. (If the customer is focused on price, we have to be too.) Think about it.

If you could contact 400 dealers when you need a stone, instead of just four, do you think you might find a better price? Of course you would. Lowering our cost of goods preserves our margin.

Becoming a member of Polygon was one of the best business decisions we ever made. In fact let me go further. It was THE best business decision we ever made. When I look back on the last four years, I don't know how we stayed in business without it. It's a tough world out there, and it's going to get tougher. Jewelers who don't adapt, and who don't start using the new productivity tools, are going to be the first to go. The survivors the ones who fight back and win are on Polygon.

Bernie Benavidez Master Jewelers, Rochester, Minnesota Polygon ID# 71289

Since 1983, Polygon has been the jewelry industry's on-line marketplace. Every day, thousands of retailers and wholesalers buy and sell literally millions of dollars in diamonds, watches, gemstones, estate jewelry, and more, plus they exchange the information they need to help run their businesses more profitably. If you want to maximize your time and minimize your inventory expenses, then you're ready for Polygon. Call today to find out more.