high-Tech Jewelry Stores

Nick: Jewelry stores are going high tech with virtual display cases from Paragon Lake. The display case at this jewelry store near Boston lets shoppers customize jewelry beyond what’s available in the store.
Deborah: How it works is that you walk in to a jewelry store and you have a large HP touch screen computer on the counter. And the sales people in the jewelry store will operate the computer for you or you could do it yourself. And you choose the designs that you like. So, there’s a search functionality in it that allows you to find the type of piece that you want, whether you want a ring, or a pendant, or earrings, etcetera. And then when you find the designs you like, usually you choose about three designs and our, our point is to have three designs quickly. Then you go into those designs and you can change all of the different metals that are in it and the different gems that are in, in the piece.
Nick: Paragon Lake launched the virtual display case this past May and now has them in 42 jewelry stores across the US. The unit cost 3500 US dollars which includes the HP touch screen computer and the training for sales associates.
Deborah: One of the benefits to the jewelry store is that they have no inventory to carry and as you can imagine carrying inventories of very expensive proposition for jewelry store. So, it gives them thousands of pieces and every piece on average can be customized to 1.5 million permutations. So we are talking about billions of inventory items in a store in a single computer screen.
Nick: Verge Jewelers has had a VDC for two months and has already sold 1 piece through it. But co-owner Bill Verge noted that this time of the year is generally his slowest. Verge was interested in the unit because his store already does custom jewelry design.
Bill: We do a lot of designing ourselves using a 3D cam product and they draw in program and that just does 2D and this just fit right in with what we were doing already.
Nick: Paragon Lake designed the software on the VDCs with the Java back end and a Flex front end. Besemer said that one of the featured on the VDC is that price is automatically update as customers change gem stones and metals. Next year, Paragon Lake plans to launch consumer website where customers can use the Virtual Display Case from the comfort of their homes but even then they still need to buy jewelry through Berkin Motor Stores. Reporting from Hingham, Massachussetts, I’m Nick Barber, IDG News Service.


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