Glass birds

[Deasmum]

This is where Gemporia just don't seem to get it.

Last week, they did a lovely Gem Auras Ocean Scene Tealight Holder with Blue Aventurine & Clear Quartz. It sold for £20 and was worth every penny. It looked really nice and the quality was excellent. Really good value for money.

Then they do tacky stuff like these 'couture' cretins that look hideous and wouldn't look out of place in a tacky tourist shop window for a fiver in Blackpool next to a kiss me quick hat.

Yet these cretins cost as much as the much better Gem Auras item.

I don't think they know who their target customer base is these days. One minute they're selling high end stuff - then an hour later, they can be selling complete tat.

They refer to buyers as connoisseurs - yet they're bunging most of the stones in gold tone.

They say they don't sell brass and glass - but then they come on selling Hattie's brass brooch's and these glass cretins.

Some presenters distance themselves from all this 'healing / chakra' nonsense - then another will come on and tell us it can awaken the dead if you place it on their forehead.

They tell us they save money by cutting out the middleman - yet they pay Dave Sloth and Toby Cavill to tell us stories, which is an unnecessary wage.

They had a silver locket on Gem Collector for four days on the trot this week. Why have they got jewellery on a channel for loose gemstones?
They've had jewellery making gem strands on Gem Collector - and loose gemstones on Jewellery Maker.

Its just a complete mess - they seem to just sell a bit of everything on any of their channels now. Steve seems disinterested so I don't think he's passionate enough to sort it out any more. Each time he appears on Gems TV, it's for health related stuff rather than jewellery.

I give them 6 months.

Yes, I was hoping that Steve would intervene but as you said he simply doesn't seem interested anymore. Have you noticed that they rarely have new gemstone showcases anymore? Today it's going to be one of those rare occasions with the Tajik Spinels. I hope they are not in gold tone

 

[harrytumkins]

As I have said before I think selling a bit of everything is almost a requirement these days but Gems doesn't seem fully committed to doing that and from my limited viewing seems to be dipping toes into areas without fully committing

They really need someone (Steve) to come on air again and say look we love gemstones it is how we started but it is no longer a viable business model in 2023 to just sell gems (see TJC who have said this many times for at least 3 years) so we will have more of a mix and we are going that way

If you get the customer service right or at a higher level then a lot of people will buy other things if they see them enough and they are around about the correct price

OR go against that and say we are just selling quality gems in proper metals ( but I think that ship has sailed )

Either way, tell the customers what the plans are, the former will alienate some high-end collectors no doubt but the gems-only approach is outdated and unlikely to be the way forward, the dabbling approach will not work

 

[TheManWithNoName]

As I have said before I think selling a bit of everything is almost a requirement these days but Gems doesn't seem fully committed to doing that and from my limited viewing seems to be dipping toes into areas without fully committing

They really need someone (Steve) to come on air again and say look we love gemstones it is how we started but it is no longer a viable business model in 2023 to just sell gems (see TJC who have said this many times for at least 3 years) so we will have more of a mix and we are going that way

If you get the customer service right or at a higher level then a lot of people will buy other things if they see them enough and they are around about the correct price

OR go against that and say we are just selling quality gems in proper metals ( but I think that ship has sailed )

Either way, tell the customers what the plans are, the former will alienate some high-end collectors no doubt but the gems-only approach is outdated and unlikely to be the way forward, the dabbling approach will not work

Is selling a bit of everything the way forward too though? The Sit-Up channels went under, Ideal World has just died too. Can they compete with the likes of eBay and Amazon? In my local area, Amazon have just started doing same-day deliveries. Nobody can compete with that.

Gemporia had a crack at the 'flog a bit of everything' in the past when they had the channel for their charity (Colourful Life Foundation). That was also short lived despite selling some good quality products.

Gemporia have proven, even now during this bad patch, that if they get the quality and price right, they can sell jewellery in high quantities, quickly. The problem is, the 'face' of their channel was the passionate one and went to the mines himself as well as running the company. He seems more interested in health businesses these days - and the guy that he had running it for him until March (Wagstaffe) was a complete clown. Now Jake Thompson is MD - but he's only in the role because he's married to Steve's daughter. He doesn't seem the brightest lamp in the street, and if you look at his background on LinkedIn, his background is nothing out of the ordinary either. Jake and Dave seem to run the show now - and they both come across as market traders.

I still think Gemporia could succeed - but either with a fully committed Steve Bennett again - or under new passionate ownership with a similar ethos to Gemporia of old.