Jewellery Focus March 2019 | Page 10

MONTH IN REVIEW www.jewelleryfocus.co.uk WATCHES Rotary donates £25,000 to British Royal Legion Watch brand Rotary has donated £25,000 to the Royal British Legion, made up from sales of its limited edition timepiece created to mark the centenary of the end of the First World War. Andrew Hinds, of F Hinds Jewellers, added: “ The opportunity to help was very poignant for us. My great uncle George died on the first day of the battle of the Somme and the story of our family business was changed forever. “We were honoured to be invited by Rotary to help support the Royal British Legion as we never forget the sacrifice that George and millions of others made which has enabled us to live the fortunate lives we do today.” RETAILERS 1 2 3 4 5 6 ONLINE Chains of Gold see a bumper year UK based online jewellery retailer Chains of Gold has celebrated a successful year, despite marketplace challenges. Offering a personalised service that larger jewellery retailers find it hard to mimic, Chains of Gold have successfully received a Gold Trusted Service award from Feefo. F Hinds to save Chapelle stores The timepiece featured special details to commemorate the centenary, with the 11th hour and the 11th day “respectfully coloured red”, and an image of a poppy located at 12 o’clock and on the crown. According to the watch brand, the “subtle details honour all those who bravely sacrificed themselves to secure and protect our freedom”, and there were just 1918 individually numbered models available, to signify the end of the First World War. Rotary presented a cheque with its donation of £25,000 generated via sales direct to trade at The Royal British Legion’s headquarters located in Borough on Friday 15 February. In addition to Rotary’s donation, its retail partner F Hinds also donated £12,500, profits generated from sales of the watch in-store and online direct to consumers. Peter McKenna, CEO of Rotary Watches, said: “We are really pleased that Rotary played some part in the success of the Thank You 2018 campaign. I am thrilled with the sell- out success of the Limited Edition timepiece and that our donation will support the insatiable work for the services community that the Royal British Legion provides.” 10 JEWELLERY FOCUS Family owned retailer F Hinds, which has 116 stores across England & Wales, has reached an agreement to take on 12 Chapelle stores in top outlet centres. Chapelle was founded in 1979 by Paul and Margaret Mortimer as a retail business that offered discounted watches and jewellery. It trades in outlet centres across the UK and stocks brands such as Armani, Calvin Klein, DKNY, Hot Diamonds, Michael Kors, Radley and Ted Baker. Chapelle has recently updated and improved its branding and proposition with most of its store units having been recently refitted and rebranded, however it entered administration last month. Managing director David Hinds, said: “We are delighted to be able to take on many of the Chapelle outlet stores as well as their website. We are also very pleased to be saving over 80 jobs. We believe that Chapelle complements our existing F Hinds business and that we will be able to share our experience and to offer increased operational efficiency. “We welcome the Chapelle staff and customers to our family and believe that a similar company culture will help us to build a new and better business together.We believe our purchase will provide an opportunity for existing Chapelle and F Hinds suppliers as well as offering new brands an efficient route to clear end of range product in an ideal environment.” Seeing increased sales, they pride themselves in their expertise and experience which founded the company only in 2014. Members of the British Jewellers Association and an Assay Assured Jewellery Retailer, they offer consumers a high level of trust with the products they are buying. In a marketplace saturated with jewellery retailers, they have carved out a niche, selling the finest quality products at reasonable prices. By focussing on excellent customer service and providing a personal touch, Chains of Gold benefits from repeat orders which get customers coming back to them time and time again. Putting marketing activities to the forefront of their work, the Chains of Gold website has seen a steady increase of customers over the last year. They have also taken advantage of successful paid marketing activities across Google, and Social media platforms including Facebook and Instagram. Working on brand awareness, fostering confidence to buy through them and creating sales through traffic generated from social media platforms, seamlessly. March 2019 | jewelleryfocus.co.uk