Turn your retail store into a custom-made business practically overnight. As any jeweler will tell you anecdotally, the demand for custom-made engagement rings and wedding rings has skyrocketed over the past several years. According to market research firm Statista, revenue in the U.S. jewelry segment is forecasted to reach $18.6 million in 2019, an annual growth of 0.9 percent. Jewelry stores are facing tougher and tougher competition, and some companies, such as market research firm Mintel, expect the pace of growth to decelerate. Enter individualist-minded millennial buyers, heirloom gem owners, and companies handing out incentives in the form of jewelry, all of whom are increasingly asking for one-offs, recycled jewelry, and even corporate jewelry, pins, and logos. Suddenly, there’s a new avenue for growth.
Jeff Adwar, president of Overnight Mountings and son of the late company founder, Morris Adwar, says the company started to recognize the need for custom-made pieces in the market about a decade ago. Understanding that retailers needed a design and manufacturing partner to custom-make goods in order to accommodate todays more savy and informed customers, the company invested in the highest definition 3-D and CAD technology out there to enable it to fulfill orders practically overnight. Today, Overnight Mountings has the ability to produce jewelry—including engagement rings, wedding rings, earrings, and pendants, and just about any other type of jewelry —in every metal, diamond quality, and can even handle colored stones, enamel, and hand-engraving.
Consumers, having access to information and hundreds of thousands of images on their computers, are better informed and have a much clearer idea of what they want. The process is simple: A customer walks into a jeweler, makes a request, and Overnight Mountings provides an immediate price quote and a photo-realistic CAD rendering the very next day. Revisions are made, if needed, and barely a week later, the finished product is delivered to the retailer.
“Today’s consumers don’t want to wait, they want immediate gratification,” says Adwar. “The retailer can show a life like CAD rendering to the customer the very next day and explain to them that this is what it will look like. The speed of reacting to the customer and the quality of the CAD allows the retailer to close more sales.”
Ultimately, as a jeweler himself, Adwar is fully aware that the most important aspect of the custom business comes down to the quality of the product. “Because of the preciseness of CAD and the highly experienced CAD operators, most of which are former jewelers themselves, Overnight can create things with details other companies cannot,” he says. “We have complete control from the CAD design through manufacturing, and we’re able to do everything in-house domestically right here in New York. We are hands-on and oversee the entire production process, from the creation of the CAD to the finished item.”
Moreover, jewelers tend to work with only one custom representative, one person who answers every email, every phone call, and who works with them on all of their custom projects. That practice creates relationships, cuts down on miscommunication, and ultimately increases the satisfaction of a retailer and, hence, a customer.
If that isn’t enough, Overnight Mountings guarantees customers will be happy with the product. “Business is hard enough,” says Matthew Roth, Overnight’s Executive Vice president. “Overnight wants to make it so that our retail partners can say yes to every potential sale that walks in the door.”
“We will do whatever it takes to make the customer happy,” adds David Adwar, Overnight’s vice president. “Give it a try. We will show you how easy it is.”