With her new virtual retail store, Stephanie Gottlieb is taking her fine jewelry brand into a new shopping realm, bringing a blend of education, virtual try-ons, and customization experiences to consumers in time for the upcoming holiday shopping season.
The Stephanie Gottlieb Fine Jewelry virtual store joins retailers such as Ralph Lauren in bringing jewelry into a kind of metaverse. But what makes Gottlieb’s experience unique is how the social-media influencer highlights her brand’s personality—there are special features like her trademarked Rainbow Electric Hoop Tunnel as well as smart sales drivers, including interactive games, special events, and access to Gottlieb’s Black Friday sale before it is open to the public.
The virtual retail store is one more way that Gottlieb says she is creating connections with her customers. Gottlieb has a website and a New York City showroom, and she feels the virtual retail store brings a bigger, bolder experience to shoppers anywhere.
“Our brand is so experiential, and we wanted to be able to bring a more 360 rainbow and sparkle experience to our audience,” Gottlieb says. “It’s a deeper look into the aesthetics and spirit of the brand and gives a glimpse of what a real-world store might look and feel like.”
Gottlieb launched her rainbow-hued virtual store on Sept. 21, working with virtual e-commerce platform Obsess. You start in a best-seller room, which highlights 15 of Gottlieb’s best-selling pieces. There are educational videos that explain her approach to necklace layering, how to create proportional earscapes, and how to size a ring or measure your wrist.
“We wanted the customer to enter a rainbow metaverse unlike anything they’ve ever experienced—an explosion of color,” Gottlieb says. “As you navigate through the Rainbow Room of Best Sellers, you travel through each category with imagery representing each color of the rainbow. We had so much fun using paint to make the jewelry really pop in the model images shown on the gallery walls.”
Another area leads the customers to Instagram, where you can use specialty Stephanie Gottlieb Fine Jewelry filters to try on the brand’s signature jewelry. From there, you can slide through a virtual tunnel into a gemstone-laden cave and onto the “Pick Your Pantone” wall, where you can customize two of Gottlieb’s hoop styles with colors exclusive to the virtual store.
“Education has been such an important part of growing our customer base and earning the respect of our customers and peers. This transparency really allows our customers to trust that they are in good hands, which is particularly important for a client who never gets to come visit our showroom in person,” Gottlieb says. “We want our customers to feel confident placing an order online, and to understand how to wear and enjoy the jewelry in a quintessential SG way.”
Virtual-store customers will have early access to Gottlieb’s early Black Friday sale as well as access to an interactive game featuring Gottlieb’s rainbow slider bangle. Overall holiday retail sales are likely to increase between 4% and 6% in 2022, according to Deloitte’s annual holiday retail forecast.
Giving the customers sparkle, color, and happy imagery is key to what makes the Stephanie Gottlieb Fine Jewelry brand, so the virtual retail store had to match that feeling, Gottlieb says.
“Originally, we set out to create a meta-version of what our real store might look like, and then quickly realized that the metaverse is the place to go bold with ideas and design and execute something that wouldn’t really exist in the real world,” Gottlieb says.
Top: Stephanie Gottlieb recently debuted a virtual retail store that highlights her brand’s core identity while also giving consumers fun experiences, educational videos, and areas where they can personalize their jewelry, such as a Pantone color wall for her signature hoop earring styles (photos courtesy of Stephanie Gottlieb Fine Jewelry).
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