Another popular brand—JewelPop’s Kameleon—has opened an e-commerce site, which gives consumers the option to purchase products at local retailers.

KameleonJewelry.com, which launched Sept. 16, lets consumers choose between picking up the product at a local store or having it shipped. What makes Kameleon’s plan a little different from similar models is that the shipping will be done either by a local retailer or by Kameleon itself—depending on what the retailer has in stock.

“The retailer who has the item in stock and is closest to the customer is awarded the sale,” explains Christine Gorney, a spokesperson for Shopatron, the San Luis Obispo, Calif.–based company that is handling order management for the site. “If the retailers do not have the item in stock, then Kameleon will fulfill the order themselves.” 

Gorney admits that some of the retailers will “need to be trained” in how to ship orders to local customers, and says Shopatron will offer a “pick and pack” solution to help jewelers ship items to local consumers. Retailers don’t have to participate in the shipping if they don’t want to, she adds.

“Retailers like this solution because it gets product off their shelves,” she says. “It also drives traffic to the retailers’ stores, so it gives them the ability to develop relationships with consumers and make add-on sales.”

According to Kameleon spokeswoman Allison Smith, retailers have basically fulfilled all the orders in the month since the site launched.

Other e-commerce brands such as Hearts On Fire and Ritani have similar e-commerce models, though they don’t have items shipped from local retailers, and they offer dealers a percentage of every sale in their local area, even if they had nothing to do with it.

Kameleon currently sells through 800 retailers across the United States. 

JCK