The most notable change is dropping the word “diamonds” from Helzberg Diamonds.
The company, owned by Berkshire Hathaway, also has a new logo and brand color, and has revamped its in-store and online offerings to complement its modern makeover.
In a recent interview with National Jeweler, Helzberg CEO Brad Hampton shared the thought process behind the retailer’s rebranding, its new digital capabilities, and how it strengthens customer relationships.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Lenore Fedow: Why did you all decide it was time for a rebrand?
Brad Hampton: For the last couple of years, we’ve been really investing heavily in the customer experience at Helzberg. Historically, we’ve been known for an amazing in-store experience and we are very proud of the experience we deliver for our customers in our stores.
But we’ve been working to expand that to a more omnichannel perspective and bring the Helzberg experience to life in a branded and experiential way for our customers, whether they’re interacting with us online, through social media, or in our stores, just wherever all those touchpoints are for Helzberg.
We really felt like bringing the new brand positioning forward was the right time to share with our customers all the work we’ve been doing and bring a fresh new look forward for the company.
LF: The most obvious change to me is that you’ve changed your name. So, why drop the “Diamonds” from Helzberg?
BH: Helzberg is easier and perhaps more attractive to a broad range of consumers. We don’t want to narrow the perception that we only sell diamonds. We’re obviously a full-scale jeweler. We sell a broad range of jewelry and gemstones and all different types of products for all different types of consumers. And we think Helzberg is a simpler, easier way to express that and share it with consumers.
It’s kind of like when Dunkin’ Donuts went from “Dunkin’ Donuts” to [just] “Dunkin’” to reflect their broader offerings. I think we took some inspiration from that type of a move.
LF: That’s a good comparison. You also have a new brand color, so tell me what went into choosing “Helzberg Blue?”
BH: I think burgundy had become a little tired, maybe, in the marketplace. We felt like it was time to bring a more welcoming [color].
Blue has a very welcoming, warm feel. It’s a nod to blue sky or to Kansas City. Our home city is the City of Fountains.
We just think it’s a much more modern and inviting color. And so we have a really beautiful light dusty blue and also a darker rich kind of navy blue that are our hallmark colors now that we’re really excited about.
Helzberg has adopted a new brand color, dubbed "Helzberg Blue."
LF: It’s very pretty. I like it a lot. You also have new client experiences like the Diamond Room, a private session where customers can learn more about diamonds and engagement rings. What are you hoping your customers are going to get out of that private session?
BH: The Diamond Room is one of the things that really distinguishes the in-store experience at Helzberg.
When you’re buying a car, you want to look under the hood and know what you’re getting. It’s the same, I think, when customers are investing in a piece of jewelry, especially if they’re buying a big diamond for the first time. That can be kind of an overwhelming experience. The Diamond Room is really all about education and connecting with the consumer.
It gives them a chance to get up close and personal to their diamond, and it’s a chance for us to educate them not only about the diamond, but [also] to educate them on the benefit of being part of Helzberg and that relationship we build with them.
When customers have an opportunity to experience the Diamond Room, their net promoter score is much higher. (A net promoter score refers to a customer’s likelihood of recommending a business to others.)
Their propensity to come back and shop with us again is much higher. They’re just a much more engaged and satisfied consumer. That’s really important for us.
We’ve been investing in some new technology in the Diamond Room that we think will really enhance that experience. We have a new proprietary piece of equipment that we call GEMs. It’s a Gemstone Evaluation and Magnification tool that really brings that experience to life for the customer. It lets them see their diamond magnified in such a way that they can see the light characteristics of their particular diamond and the light performance.
We’re all about education and transparency. We want the customers to make the best choice for them with all the information available and that this is really a key part of that process.
LF: And you all think this hands-on experience is going to be the best way to do that, with your GEMs technology and these one-on-one sessions?
BH: Absolutely. We find that we really build a relationship with customers through that process.
The fun and exciting part about the jewelry industry, as you know, is that those purchases and those investments represent milestones in people’s lives, and it’s an opportunity to build that connection. That connection really happens through that consultative sales process in the store.
We’ve been investing not only in the in-store process but also online. We want to bring that same opportunity to life online, so we’ve invested in some really cool experiences on our website as well to begin to bring that same type of education and experience to life in a digital way.
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LF: The Helzberg website also has a new custom ring builder. Is that new to Helzberg entirely or an update?
BH: We’ve always had some capability on our website to build custom rings. This one is a new builder that we launched in June. It provides a really great user experience for customers to be able to design and build that custom ring, but also to be able to interact with it, to see it in a big way, to have 360-degree views, to be able to really get up close and personal with that special piece of jewelry that they’re building and creating.
LF: I’m getting the sense from some of these new updates that personalization is increasingly important to your customers. Is that fair to say?
BH: That is absolutely fair. Consumers have much more attachment to the piece of jewelry and the meaning behind it when they’re involved in the creation. That could be as simple as, “I want to pick the actual diamond that goes into this setting,” or it could be as detailed as, “Hey, I saw this ring on Pinterest that I really like, and I’m going to do something similar but make it unique.”
We’re bringing all of those capabilities to our customers. They’re much more connected to the brand and to the experience when they have a part in designing.
LF: I can definitely see that.
BH: We have a great custom wedding band capability both on our website and in our stores. And you can do all kinds of amazing things. There’s all kinds of cool materials and designs and features that you can really personalize a wedding band. And that’s become so popular with our customers.
That’s really become our main offering in that space versus some of the traditional men’s weddings bands that you might have thought of in the past. So, it’s really been fun to see customers adapt that and want to be involved in that personalization and customization.
LF: That’s super fun. I feel like that technology is limited to engagement rings most of the time. Now, you also have the Love and Marriage Studio. Can you walk me through what that personalization experience is like?
BH: The whole intent there was this idea of bringing the amazing Helzberg experience we deliver in our brick-and-mortar locations to life online.
The Love and Marriage Studio is really a place that is personalized and customized as our customers experience that online.
At the very beginning, it’s a place to learn about engagement rings, to learn about weddings, anything to do with engagements and weddings. That’s a great starting point on our website, and it lets the customers tailor the experience.
They might already know what they’re looking for and just want to go straight to our rings and shop and explore. They may want some inspiration, and they may want some education. They may want to learn about the 4Cs of diamonds and how to pick out the right diamond.
We’ve been building that with a lot of customer research and customer data based on how customers want to experience that type of process online. We’ve been really excited to bring it to the market.
We just launched that in September and the initial results are really encouraging.
(Helzberg also uses a fifth "C," choice, inviting customers to choose a natural or lab-grown diamond based on what works best for them. “We were an early adopter of lab-grown diamonds and we have a pretty extensive offering, but we’re not really taking a stand in terms of ‘Is mined better? Is lab better?” I think they both have places and they’re both unique and have a compelling value proposition to consumers. We’re all about giving customers the opportunity to choose," said Hampton.)
LF: I think that’s a cool idea. I have the benefit of knowing all those things just from my line of work, but I think if you don’t, it can be very intimidating to go into a store and ask a sales associate all of these questions when you’re making such a significant purchase. And it removes that barrier if I can just go onto your website and read up before I get there.
BH: Right. We know consumers today very rarely buy something in a store without having researched and looked online. We think connecting that experience has been really important.
Through the Love and Marriage Studio, we offer customers the option if they want to complete the purchase online, and that’s great. If they want some help with a virtual agent, we have a virtual selling studio, and we can connect like you and I are connecting now and get some personal advice.
They can text and connect with one of our jewelry experts, or they can make an appointment and come to a store and finish the process there.
So however customers are comfortable, however they want to experience the process, we want to make it easy and, to your point, take some of those barriers down to buying jewelry.
LF: I think that’s a really fun way to do it. Helzberg also now has something called “an internal endless option super app.” What is that, and what does that mean for your customers?
BH: As we’ve been investing in this whole omnichannel customer experience, we wanted to give our sales associates an opportunity to interact with customers, again, how and whenever they want.
So, what that app really does is it allows our sales associates to offer customers product options that are not physically in our cases in the store, whether that’s a custom ring that they want to design or it’s part of the expanded assortment that we offer online but not in store.
This gives our sales associates a really easy portal to access all of that product and also to offer it up to our consumers, either in store or if the customer is virtual, to be able to communicate with the customer.
It’s a clienteling application as well, but it also lets our associates serve up, for example, a prepopulated basket of items they might have looked at in the store or their wish list from in the store, and they might send a link to the customer that’s easy for the customer to click on and finish the purchase at home.
It’s a relationship management tool for our associates to build those omnichannel relationships across the channels with our customers.
LF: This is my last question for you. What is the most important thing that you want customers to know about the new Helzberg?
BH: Helzberg is all about care and craft and building a relationship. And what I want our customers to know is that we’ve been here for over 100 years. We have this amazing heritage and legacy, and we’re going to be here for our customers in the future.
What we find is that when customers come to us, it is a relationship that we build with them, and that’s the really exciting part about what differentiates our brand.
We just want our customers to know we’re here for them and that we are building everything we can to make the interaction the most positive and that we are going to be here for the next 100 years.
