Amid Market Changes, Leo Ingwer Is Going Branded

didn’t feel it. We were very lucky.

What that can do sometimes is create a little bit of complacency and make it a little bit harder to make that adjustment, so you slowly start putting in ideas and changing little things because you don’t want to throw out the baby with the bath water, as they say. But all of a sudden, when you see that retail stores are going out of business at a record pace, you see that certain designers are struggling … all of a sudden it becomes very easy to try those other ideas and to look for that change because, you know what, what choice do we have?

“Now we’re definitely looking to get our name out there a little bit more and push our story, because I think that’s very important to today’s generation of buyers. They want to know the source. They want to know the story behind the source.”

NJ: Why did you feel like it was the time to start making these changes?

TI: What prompted that was the market. In the past, they (jewelers) would have their diamond guy for the melee, they would buy the casting and semi-mount, they would have their own setter, they would have their own polisher, and they would run around putting everything together.

I think as the industry has evolved, people are looking for more of a one-stop shop kind of experience, which is something we’ve tried to provide. I’d say for the last 25 years, but then even more so over the last five years or even seven years, what we’ve recognized--and I think what everyone in the industry is talking about--is the tremendous amount of change that’s coming very quickly. Any time there’s this kind of change, it’s going to affect some people negatively and some of us are going to adjust and change our models a little bit to better represent the industry as it is today.

NJ: Is Leo Ingwer aiming to be a branded line in a jewelry store or to be a private label for jewelers?

TI: It’s a little bit of both, but obviously we’re looking more to brand our name. I think in the past, we were always sort of known as the “jeweler’s jeweler”… but the name Ingwer never really entered the retail customer’s mind. It wasn’t something that they knew about, other than being handed a catalogue to pick from the pictures. Now we’re definitely looking to get our name out there a little bit more and push our story, because I think that’s very important to today’s generation of buyers. They want to know the source. They want to know the story behind the source. They want to know what makes this special, what makes this company special, and why they should buy a ring made by us versus all the other competitors that are out there.

NJ: How are you getting the message out there that the company is changing direction, other than telling retail clients? Are you doing anything consumer-facing?

TI: Yes, this is what we’re building now, and I think that’s the biggest change. We’re now planning on doing a lot more outreach to that retail end-user to make sure that we have a little bit more of control over our story and brand and how it’s represented, and hopefully it’ll lead to people walking into stores and saying they want this ring from Leo Ingwer.

“I hear a lot of, I want to say complaining, about this current generation, this millennial generation, and after a while, it becomes enough. We can’t blame the customer, right?”

NJ: You mentioned that you were going higher end. How is the product changing and how is the pricing changing?

TI: We have different levels now. My signature collection, which is sort of our super high end, hand-made is definitely at a higher price point than the normal Leo Ingwer. What we’re actually doing now is reconfiguring the classic Leo Ingwer product in a way that allows us to increase the quality and yet keep the pricing very similar to where it was. It has more simply to do with the way we manufacture things. I think back in the ‘70s, ‘80s, ‘90s, people wanted bulkier mountings, heavier mountings, whereas now, everything’s more delicate, and it’s about the quality of the work, the craftsmanship, the pave setting and the ability to really make these nice, delicate, intricate settings. The amount of gold being used or metal being used has maybe gone down, but the labor has increased. What we’re finding is that the pricing is very similar. That’s really the goal.

But I think one of the major changes is the story that we’re telling and who we’re talking to, and I think that’s really the key. I hear a lot of, I want to say complaining, about this current generation, this millennial generation, and after a while, it becomes enough. We can’t blame the customer, right? It’s about an experience … there’s so much information, there are so many options, there are so many different ways to go about accomplishing the same end goal of getting an engagement ring that you have to truly make yourself remarkable in some way, shape or form, and you have to figure out what that is. But to sit around and say that they don’t get it or they don’t understand or they don’t know loyalty, I reject that notion because I feel they do.

There’s always a shift in generational values to some extent, but I think that the core of it always stays the same. We have our core values that we’re staying true to, no matter what. Now the idea is how to make these core values fit in today’s business environment.

NJ: Since you’ve started making this change, what are your thoughts about what’s been working and what other challenges there are or retail response?

TI: That’s the hardest part, is the communication with retailers. I think we all know that there are some great retailers out there who, unfortunately, may not make it past these trying times. And there are others that will. I think it’s sort of that attachment to the old brick-and-mortar (mentality of), let’s get in a bunch of brands, let’s fill in the showcases, let’s do a radio commercial and let’s wait for people to come in the door. Those who are slow to adjust won’t make it. We find it very hard to communicate our changes with them. I think that’s our biggest challenge right now, and that’s what we’re working on. Hopefully we can do that successfully.