A new store has opened in The Westchester mall, though it may be one of the few where customers shouldn”™t expect to walk out the door with their new purchases in hand.
Blue Nile, the largest online retailer of diamonds and fine jewelry, opened a brick-and-mortar “webroom” at the mall in White Plains on May 27. A hybrid of online and in-store shopping, the store allows customers to browse more than 400 styles of jewelry in-person.
“Customers want to see what it looks like in real life,” webroom manager Candice Liu said. “It”™s hard to tell on an image.”
But all orders will still need to be placed online, which can be done in the store. Purchases will then be shipped to a customer”™s home or to the store for pick-up.
The brightly lit interior of the store, which Josh Holland, senior manager of brand and marketing communications, said is a stark contrast to the “dark, cavernous” feel other jewelry stores, features video screens linked with Blue Nile”™s social media accounts to show customers displaying their purchases in real time. Along with jewelry displayed in the more traditional glass cases, each store also features open tables with rings tethered to fixtures, allowing customers to try on rings without needing to ask an employee for assistance.
“People have fun trying on rings free of the pressure of a salesperson,” Holland said, adding that all associates working at the webrooms are noncommissioned.
“It”™s very different from what you usually see from a jewelry store.”
In the center of the display cases are iPads, allowing customers to purchase their desired pieces in what Holland calls “our version of the Apple Genius Bar.”
Like Apple, the Blue Nile webroom joins the “bricks and clicks” trend, a model that combines the retailer”™s robust online presence with a physical storefront.
“Consumers are evolving,” he said. “Retailers must evolve with them.”
The White Plains store is the second physical location for the Seattle-based retailer. The first opened at Roosevelt Field Mall in Garden City last year.
Blue Nile began experimenting with the concept in 2013 by placing small kiosks inside the bridal section at two Nordstrom stores, one at a mall in downtown Seattle and another at Roosevelt Field. Holland said that 91 percent of those who visited the displays came to Nordstrom for the sole purpose of trying on rings, even though they would need to make any purchases online.
Those kiosks provided “significant sales per square foot” for Blue Nile, a fact the company found compelling enough to expand its physical presence. Though he would not divulge specific figures, Holland said the webrooms have also provided a lift to Blue Nile”™s online sales in the New York area, and of the Roosevelt Field location, “broadly, we consider it a success.”
“It”™s kind of a fun paradox,” Holland said of the store”™s ability to sell more items with less inventory and a smaller overhead footprint.
Holland believes Blue Nile”™s webroom is the first online-controlled display room in the industry.
While this business model allows Blue Nile to keep costs low, Holland said it”™s also a way to get consumers “more comfortable with buying online.”
The Westchester”™s webroom opening comes following Blue Nile”™s first-quarter earnings announcement on May 5. The company reported that net sales, though falling within forecasts, were down 3.2 percent year-over-year at $103.1 million. Earnings per share fell about 10 percent on the year to 9 cents per share.
During a conference call following the earnings announcement, Blue Nile CEO Harvey Kanter said he sees these webrooms as “a catalyst for future growth” in a challenging environment for diamond prices.
“The webrooms are still what we would consider to be conceptual, and we”™re trying to understand how they extend into different markets,” CFO David Binder said during the call.
The webrooms are set to expand to two new locations later this summer: Tyson”™s Corner Center mall in Virginia and the Washington Square mall in Portland.
Holland said the store”™s locations are based on a number of factors including demographic, traffic in the malls and finding the right space.
“I think it”™s very much a learning period for us, and we”™re very optimistic,” Binder said. “But we”™re also cautious in what a different market may do relative to the success that we”™ve had at Roosevelt Field.”
Holland said Blue Nile is in talks to continue expanding the webrooms nationwide, though it”™s “too soon to tell” what an ideal future would look like.
“We”™re still in a testing phase,” he said.
