Jessica Simpson, Zale to Launch Jewelry Collection

Jessica Simpson will launch a diamond fashion jewelry collection available at Zale Corp. branded stores beginning in October.

The Dallas-based jewelry retailer made the announcement Tuesday. The Jessica Simpson collection will feature rings, earrings, pendants and bracelets, available in a range of affordable price points, the company said. Simpson’s collection will be offered exclusively at Zales Jewelers, Zales Outlet and Peoples Jewellers stores in the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico.

In addition to being an internationally known recording artist, actress and television personality, Jessica Simpson has established herself as a fashion designer. The Jessica Simpson Collection extends into 22 product categories including shoes, apparel, accessories and fragrances.

“I have always wanted to design fine jewelry and am very excited to launch a new collection exclusively at Zale,” Simpson said in a statement. “Jewelry is a very personal expression that celebrates who you are and this collection is very much a reflection of who I am.”

Zale Corp. is a leading specialty jewelry retailer in North America. Its brands include Zales Jewelers, Zales Outlet, Gordon’s Jewelers, Peoples Jewellers and Mappins Jewellers and Piercing Pagoda.

Jewelry and Watch Brands Score Low on their Digital IQ

E-tailers and department stores lead the rankings and Jewelry & Watches and Accessory brands lag behind in their digital IQ.  Image source: Digital IQ Index: Specialty Retail, L2

E-tailers have the highest digital IQ, department stores saw the largest gain in their digital IQ during the past year and the digital IQ of home furnishings brands fell from the prior year. However, it is jewelry and watch brands who rate below every category with the exception of accessories.

The good news is that with a score of 68 the jewelry and watch category “vastly improved (over 2010 results) as brands began making investments in social media,” according to L2, a digital think tank, which published the ranking of 64 companies in eight specialty categories.

For its second annual survey titled, Digital IQ Index: Specialty Retail, L2 based its ranking on the following criteria:

* Website functionality, content and brand translation, 30 percent;

* Digital marketing, 30 percent;

* Social media 20 percent; and

* Mobile, 20 percent

This year’s rankings placed a stronger emphasis on the explosion of mobile purchasing (m-commerce) and the exceptional growth of facebook as both a social media marketing tool and as a newly minted e-commerce platform, known as f-commerce.

Based on the criteria, a scoring methodology was created and rankings for the brands were based on the following categories.

Genius, 140 and above;

* Gifted, 110 - 139;

* Average, 90 - 109;

* Challenged, 70 -89;

* Feeble, 70 and below

The only jewelry and watch brand that made the Gifted” category was Tiffany, which ranked 19th overall with a score of 118. “A jewel of a mobile app and smart digital cross promotion,” the survey noted.

Even e-commerce diamond jewelry standout, Blue Nile, took a hit in the survey, ranking 38th overall, which places it in the “Average” category with a score of 98. “Dated site for a child of the medium,” according to the L2 survey. Ouch.  

Others getting an average grade are

* 43 Cartier, score of 96, “Good-looking, but faulty site mechanics;”

* 45 Swarovski, 94, “Social media properties shimmer, but site has lost its sparkle;” and

* 47 Swatch, 92, “Multi-site e-commerce navigation lacks intuition.”

Zales Jewelers, which ranked 52nd, was the only watch and jewelry brand in the “Challenged” category with a score of 83; “Enhancing mobile and YouTube offering would help.”

Then there’s Tourneau, which ranked dead last in the survey at 64th with a score of 43. It is one of only two brands to place in the “Feeble” category for failing to have an e-commerce site. “Clock is ticking before getting completely left behind,” the survey states.

No jewelry and watch brands made the Genius category.

“On average, users spend more time on brand sites with higher Digital IQs,” L2 said in its survey. “This uptick in site visits also translates to more site visits per user and higher frequency visits.”

There is some good news in the survey for jewelry and watch brands. It includes:

* Tiffany & Co. is among those considered a facebook overachiever based on its facebook page popularity;

* Swarovski facebook page attracted nearly 1.3 million "Likes," the ninth highest among those surveyed.

* Cartier has one of the fastest growing twitter accounts, ranking eighth overall;

* Cartier ranks third and Tiffany ranks fifth among brands with the most upload views on YouTube; and

* Cartier's Calibre de Cartier, Mechanics of Passion, (Short Version) Youtube video is among the most popular brand videos, ranking eighth, with more than 1.3 million views.

Other survey highlights after the page break:

Signet, Zale Post Strong Holiday Sales Gains

Kay, the largest specialty retail jewelry brand in the US based on sales, is owned by Signet Jewelers.

The two largest jewelry chains in the U.S. both posted year-over-year gains for the nine-week holiday season, ended January 1.

Signet Jewelers Ltd., the world’s largest specialty retail jeweler, said Tuesday that U.S. sales increased by 11.7 percent for the period. The Bermuda-based company also has jewelry retail chains in the U.K. and that part of the business posted a 4.2 percent decline for the period, due to the negative impact of adverse winter weather (originally reported as a 4.2 percent increase, we regret the error).

Total holiday sales increased 8.1 percent with same store sales for the period up by 11.7 percent, following a 7.5 percent rise during the 2009 holiday season.

Signet operates 1,874 specialty retail jewelry stores including 1,330 stores in the U.S., where it owns stores under the Kay Jewelers, Jared The Galleria Of Jewelry and a number of regional names. The company also operated 544 stores in the UK, where it operates as H.Samuel, Ernest Jones and Leslie Davis.

Meanwhile, Zale Corp. said Tuesday that same store sales increased 8.5 percent for the holiday period of November and December 2010. At constant exchange rates (which excludes the effect of translating Canadian currency denominated sales into U.S. dollars), same store sales increased 7.6 period for the holiday selling period. Total revenues for the two-month period increased 8 percent to $533.1.

U.S. Fine Jewelry brands (which operate as Zales Jewelers, Zales Outlet and Gordon's Jewelers) had an increase in same store sales of 7.5 percent.

Canadian Fine Jewelry brands (consisting of Peoples Jewellers and Mappins Jewellers) had an increase in same store sales of 15.6 percent (up 10.2 percent at constant exchange rates).

Kiosk jewelry same store sales from its Piercing Pagoda business increased 4.2 percent.

“The Holiday sales results represent progress as we continue to stabilize the business and return to profitability,” said Theo Killion, Zale Corp. CEO. “The investments we've made in our field teams, the clarity of our marketing message and our back to basics merchandising strategy were validated by our guests during the most critical selling period of the year.”