Online Jewelry Stores Competing with Traditional Neighborhood Stores

It may not be long before neighborhood jewelry stores are a thing of the past. The newest trend in terms of jewelry shopping is ordering online. According to the Aug. 10 press release from Brownsack Enterprise, shopping for jewelry online is becoming common enough that it's affecting the industry itself.

The release says that, according to the Jewelers' Board of Trade, the number of small independent jewelry stores has decreased by 16 percent over the past decade. The traditional jewelry stores are no longer just competing amongst themselves, but they're finding that increasingly more people are going where they can buy quality merchandise for less money with just the click of a mouse.

Another reason for the decline in local stores is that younger people are looking more for convenience and affordability, versus tradition. And younger folks are also more comfortable shopping online, even if it involves buying expensive merchandise that older folks may feel is too risky.

Furthermore, consumers can shop and buy from jewelry warehouses around the world. With their lower overhead, such businesses can pass on considerable savings to their online customers.

Brownsack Enterprise, Inc., has launched just such an online jewelry store, offering diamond engagement rings. Winston Cole is the president and CEO of the company. He said that buying online is safe, if not safer, than traditional shopping. Of his company, he said his "customers get the merchandise, try it out, and if they don't like it they can exchange it or get a full refund--no questions asked." He also said he believes online stores are the wave of the future in that "this is where the biggest growth in commerce is now. Every day more and more people are getting into it."

Besides the savings, there are other reasons people are turning to the Internet to do their jewelry shopping.