Located right on the waterfront where the huge cruise ships dock and thousands of willing tourists disembark with open wallets, Diamonds International couldn't be in a much better location. I spent the morning visiting with Yosi Mayer, General Manager, Diamonds International in his store at Heritage Quay in the principal city of St. Johns.
The Diamonds International store, other than being in a perfect location, is a very attractive store, open to the elements, light, bright and airy. Walking into the store, I felt very comfortable and was impressed by the showcases and the way the watches were merchandised. I spent about two hours with Mr. Mayer in his second floor office and on the floor of the shop.

Europa Star: How long have you been working here in Antigua?

Yosi Mayer: I've been here for three and a half years. My wife and I started in the company six years ago in Cozumel, in sales, and after three years there, they offered to have us come here and run Antigua. I like Antigua. It took me a while to get used to it. Mexico was vibrant and exciting and Antigua is slower but there is a lot to offer.

ES: What is your watch sales philosophy?

YM: We offer fashion brands that customers would choose to buy because of their name, trend or look, and we also carry many brands that are more sophisticated with complications. For those brands we need to invest more time with the customer and be more technical and help to educate them. A few examples of those brands: Audemars Piguet, Girard-Perregaux, Jaeger-LeCoultre and Piaget. The representatives from the brands come twice a year to do training and refresher courses. We keep our staff trained ourselves; we have a supervisor for the watch section, who keeps everyone informed.
Three years ago, we only had Ebel and Maurice Lacroix and we decided that we could do much better in watches across the board. I had to prove that I could sell what I had in order to get more. We started with 11 pieces of Piaget and we sold them, and then the next year I had more pieces. The classic sale is that a wife comes in for jewellery, the husband gets bored and he is shown technical watches and he buys a new watch.
We specialize in limited editions. In Girard-Perregaux, you will find at least five limited editions in the case at any time. In Audemars Piguet, we can't wait for the next limited edition to come. The Juan Pablo Montoya limited edition was such a hit. We order knowing that they will sell.

ES: How are mechanical watches selling?

YM: There are more mechanical watches selling now than before. It's interesting to see the rise in popularity for mechanical watches. It might be more aggressive marketing from Switzerland. Before I started here, I was strictly jewellery and diamonds. Now, watches are so important. We have 65 showcases and 22 watch brands, so we take it very seriously. Since we started with high-end brands, our results climb every year, so I see our average sale growing.
I would like to see the volume and the average sale go up. It has gone up recently, thanks to brands like Audemars Piguet. The average price for Audemars Piguet is US$11,000. If you do a good job marketing and selling those brands, it can make a huge difference to the bottom line. I'm very happy with the brands I have currently. It's already a lot of brands, so I have to focus on what I have right now. The brand I would like to carry is IWC.

ES: What watch are you wearing?

YM: I am wearing an Audemars Piguet. Diamonds International sent me on a tour of watch brands in Switzerland two years ago and I was very impressed with their factory, so that's why I wear an Audemars Piguet.

ES: How do you handle the marketing?

YM: Our marketing on the cruise ships is centralized by the Diamonds International marketing office in Miami. Local marketing is done here - we have advertisements in local and tourist magazines and we have good relationships with hotel managers and concierges. We frequently do jewellery shows in different hotels on the island, sometimes two to three times in one night, in order to actively attract guests to come and shop the following day to the show, as opposed to just relying on magazine advertising or placing fliers on the hotels’ front desk. Then as a result, the guests who attended the show would come to the store the following day and buy.
My biggest challenge is that I am always on the edge. If you've done a successful marketing campaign in 2005, it doesn't mean that it will work for 2006. I really am interested in marketing and I like doing it. You have to try new ideas and concepts all the time - you have to maintain relationships with the local community and hotel managers. I have to keep reading all the time, keep being interested in what is going on in the Caribbean, but also in Europe, Asia and North America. We are getting tourism from all over the world, so we have to appeal to all those people.

ES: You have jewellery next to the watches in your cases. Has that worked?

YM: I have had success merchandising the jewellery next to the watches. I also like to use the display materials from the brands, which I notice many retailers in the US and other countries don't like to do. You can't emphasize the brand enough without the display materials.
We have one shop in shop, from Montblanc, which has watches, pens, leather goods and accessories. We may do more shop in shops in the future. We have thought about this.

ES: How do you handle a customer asking for a discounted price?

YM: The strongest selling point of buying in Antigua is that this is a duty free and tax free port. We base our prices on US retail, so without tax it is already 10 - 15% off, so it's very attractive. When it comes to people from the UK, it's already a big discount compared to the 17% VAT. The only brands we share doors with in Antigua are Baume & Mercier and Ebel. We try to avoid over discounting. Retailers help each other if we stick to the price.
For example, I have the skeleton from Audemars, which took me two years to get. It's not a limited edition, but I refuse to discount this watch. It's very hard to get so why should I discount it at all?
The prices people see on the Internet are always an issue. None of the major brands allow authorized dealers to sell on the Internet, so I know that anything people see is not authorized, but it's still an issue. People come to me and tell me that they saw a watch for US$3,000 less than my price. One customer showed me the website of a watch he wanted a discount on and I pointed out several things that were wrong in the watch specifications on the site and the customer bought the same watch from me right away.

ES: How do you handle service and repair?

YM: We don't do any repairs here. At our Barbados store we have an official repair and maintenance centre for many of the brands we carry. We use that centre for the brands that we are allowed to service there. Others are sent to the official service centre assigned by the brand. I know that dealing in used watches and trade-in can be big business, but we don't do second hand business. We may do that one day, but it's not up to me.

Many thanks to Yosi Mayer for his time and candour.

For more information on the retail industry in the Caribbean, read our exclusive interview with Wendy Tarapani, Executive Director of Diamonds International.

Source: Europa Star June-July 2006 Magazine Issue

EUROPA STAR LAUNCHES TRAINING COURSE FOR RETAILERS