We’ve been preparing full steam for the New York Spring JA 2020 show when it suddenly got canceled due to the coronavirus threat. Actually, the other two shows, the MJSA and the Gem Fair were also canceled at the same time.

So there was a definite impact for us, both on morale and possibly, financially – we were all looking forward to the show to finally introduce our new Gelior platform, which is a marketplace that connects all players of the jewelry industry, from suppliers to manufacturers to retailers to consumers.

But what kind of impact will the jewelry industry face as a whole? How will everyone working in this global industry be affected? Several articles are discussing all this – they all concluding that there will be a drastic reduction in activity across the jewelry sector. After all, virtually all major trade shows in Asia have been suspended, Baselworld in Europe has been postponed, and shows across the US have been canceled – and more to follow, for sure.

The US has been historically leading in creating and adapting new technologies – the jewelry retail sector is not much different in this aspect. In the early 2000s, when the first jewelry point-of-sale (POS) systems were launched, technically-minded jewelry retail stores started to use these computerized POS systems instead of paper sheets to track their sales and inventory.

The IT segment has kept an eye on the growing demand for jewelry specific POS systems and today there is a fierce competition: retailers can choose from a dozens of systems.

But not all of them are scalable enough to keep up with the recent changes in the retail sector. In this article I would like to highlight some trends that I envision for the next few years. Whether you agree or not, share your thoughts with us in the comment section – I look forward to reading them and starting a conversation.

Changes and new challenges in the jewelry industry

We just came back from the JCK show in Las Vegas. It was interesting to hear the opinions of other exhibitors regarding the future of this and other similar jewelry shows: many of them mentioned that the number of visitors is less and less each year. It is not surprising that several exhibitors started to question their presence on these shows.

What’s happening with the jewelry industry? – we asked each other.

One of the potential answers is the virtual space. Yes, the online space has an increasing influence on the jewelry industry.