Via Seth Godin A new favorite pastime has been speaking with fine jewelry retailers who are either reluctant or refusing to sell lab grown diamonds, especially for engagement, studs and pendants. Despite several obvious concerns (dropping price of lab grown, impact on natural sales, reduced average selling price), lab grown is an oppor...

As we were considering what to do with the technology behind Gemvara, I was also at a personal crossroads and trying to decide what I wanted to do next. It was clear Gemvara was going to end. Emotional as that was, it was also liberating. We started making progress on a proof of concept that we built on the same platform as Gemvara. On...

Image via SEMRush When it comes to digital success and fine jewelry, channel conflict continues to drive a disproportionate amount of industry debate as we fight over shares of online sales that simply haven’t arrived. For three decades we’ve all been so focused on how to split online revenue we’ve ignored what it takes to actually dri...

The final year of Gemvara was probably not spent how you’d expect. Rather than aggressively looking for a viable way forward for the brand, we focused on the best possible use for the technology. We considered doubling down on engineering efforts that would make the brand easier to market, but as digital advertising and customer acquis...

Easy as it is to get lost in what could have gone better, I learned invaluable lessons at Gemvara that continue to shape the way I see our industry. Gemvara introduced me to a business that looked nothing like the 16 years of professional experience that came before it. It challenged the way I believed our industry works and has change...

Over the next few posts I want to share a little about my experiences with Gemvara. Why it shut down, what I learned from it, and what I had hoped would happen. In theory, Gemvara is a no-brainer. There’s no inventory (aside from returns) as everything is rendered, priced, sourced and crafted on the fly. Customers are given an unimagin...

Image by The Pepper Creative After the last day of JCK, I found myself having a (very) late night conversation with a few trusted co-workers and colleagues. We were talking about show follow up, particularly for one big opportunity, and I was asked about next steps. Now I’m not going to lie, it had been a very long week and more than a...

One of the greatest joys (and occasional frustrations) of software is that it’s constantly evolving. At a minimum, technical teams ensure that current offerings continue to work as other technologies evolve. At maximum, teams of dedicated engineers, developers, and designers work to bring new ideas to life. When working on something ne...

What independent jewelers can learn from one of the most successful video game and entertainment companies of all time. I know what you’re thinking right now… “what could a video game company, especially one that prominently features a plumber who is endlessly trying to rescue a princess from a dinosaur-like-turtle, possibly have to do...

Note: This post is a little heavy on self-promotion, but it would mean a lot if you gave it a read and let me know your thoughts. One of the great joys from my time at Gemvara was working with software engineers to conceptualize and create new possibilities to improve a customer’s jewelry buying experience. Engineers love to solve prob...

As lab grown diamonds continue to grow in popularity, I can’t help but think back to the emergence of freshwater pearls. I was fortunate to have a front-row seat as our family business, Honora, helped introduce a new pearl offering in a category that hadn’t evolved much over the previous 100 years. Freshwater introduced a high-quality ...

Few things hang over the head of your team and your business preparing to redo a massive legacy system like an ERP, POS, or website. It’s all too common that these projects get put off because of meaningful cost, overwhelming scope, and the desire to avoid risk. This is especially true in smaller and mid-size jewelry businesses where t...

Note: Apologies for a more personal than usual post; things will be back to our regularly scheduled programming next week. I’m excited to share that I’ve joined the team at BOSS Logics as the Director of Business Development. When I started thinking about what was next, I knew I wanted to find a company that could help jewelers take be...

As digital grows out of “emerging” and into “everyday,” it’s essential to take a step back and reassess the role it plays in our businesses. For many, e-commerce, social media, and email marketing have been framed as something you must do. There’s some truth to this, but all too often, this leads to failed attempts to do it all. Every ...

Every two weeks without fail, the development team at Gemvara would share their progress in a company-wide meeting. They’d walk us through their work from the previous two weeks and then update everyone on what would be coming next. Immediately following these meetings the engineers would lock themselves in a conference room and take a...

Hi there! I’m Michael Schechter, a third-generation, lifelong jeweler. I’ve spent the majority of my life and my career at the crossroads of fine jewelry and emerging technology. As anyone who has ever spent more than five minutes with me knows, I love to overthink and discuss how our more traditional industry can leverage modern tech....