Billing at jewellery retailing

Jewelry Discussion
1

Hi orchidians,

We have a jewellery retail show room where the billing process takes
more time. As the jewellery customer is not ready to wait in the shop
for billing, the customer dis-satisfaction has been one of the issues
for quite some time now.

Can you please throw some light as to what is the normal billing
time for jewellery products and any ideas for reduction of billing
time - even if it means some investment in any new machinery /
technology.

Thanks for your response.
Regards
Panneer

2

Panneer,

You don’t really say what process you are using, so it’s a bit
difficult to assess where you might be able to streamline.

But, in my experience, most jewelry retailers:

  1. Accept credit cards, which are automatically processed direct to
    the bank immediately.

  2. Accept cash.

  3. Accept personal checks under limited circumstances (usually
    dollar limits and occasionally waiting periods for larger amounts to
    clear). May take a few minutes to clear a bank clearinghouse, if
    you’ve set up an account with one, but is usually under 5 minutes.

  4. If a client is setting up an account with the retailer (i.e.,
    making a large purchase and financing it rather than placing it on an
    existing credit account), there should be an expectation that the
    paperwork may take a bit longer than the previously mentioned
    transactions. I’ve seen a couple of approaches to mitigate this:

    a. Explain the time expectations and offer the customer the
    opportunity to fill out the paperwork and return in “an hour” to
    pick up their purchase. (which, in the meantime, will have been
    cleaned, re-polished, and beautifully packaged for them)

    b. Explain the time expectations, offer the customer a comfortable
    “lounge” and refreshments while they wait.

    c. Explain the time expectations and offer to deliver or ship the
    piece (at no extra charge) to the customer’s preferred address the
    next day.

In all cases, clearly communicating with the customer is key.
“Getting approval on your financing application generally takes about
an hour from our credit company. We know your time is valuable, so
what would you prefer?” then offer some choices.

Does this help?

Karen Goeller
@Karen_Goeller
Hand-crafted artisan jewelry
http://www.nolimitations.com