Following Signet’s strong performance coming out of the pandemic, Signet Jewelers CEO, Gina Drosos, was the featured guest on Leadership Re-Imagined, a podcast series hosted by Janice Ellig showcasing today’s industry leaders and fellow champions of change around gender parity, inclusion and diversity.
Gina praised Signet’s ability to deliver positive results since COVID-19 as well as the focus to accelerate our transformation into the growth and innovation leader in the jewelry category.
Those looking for highlights from the conversation can find them below, or we encourage you to listen to the full interview on elliggroup.com.
Gina shared how Signet Jewelers emerged stronger from the COVID-19 pandemic, despite unprecedented challenges such as closing all of Signet’s 3,000+ stores during the spring of 2020:
We had already been working on putting our transformation in place when COVID hit. We were two years into our strategy, and we were able to pivot very quickly into being a purely digital company for some period of time.
Within 48 hours, we empowered our store managers to be able to serve our customers from their homes, using their phones and iPads. Within six months, we had more than 700 virtual jewelry consultants serving people online. We added [online] chat features and capabilities. We added curbside pickup and same-day concierge deliveries – so a number of different flexible fulfillment options. And it's really because we were already well on that path that we were able to pivot so quickly.
I'm very proud of the team. It's not easy to adopt new capabilities like that so quickly, but I believe that they're so relentlessly focused on wanting to serve our customers in the best possible way that they embraced all of those new skills and capabilities much faster than many imagined.
As the business pivoted to digital-selling, Gina shared a revelation that Signet’s teams also experienced throughout the COVID-19 pandemic:
We've really seen a trend toward people celebrating each other with jewelry. It's a gift of love. It's imbued with meaning and jewelry is a lasting gift. Every woman that you meet can point to the jewelry that she's wearing, when she got it and what it means to her – because it always has a story with it. And we saw that really happening during COVID.
The growing demand for jewelry accelerated the Company’s focus on growth areas important to today’s customers. Areas such as customization, jewelry repair and contributing to the circular economy are keys for the newest generation of consumers – and Gina shared how Signet and its banners are ready to respond:
We have had, for a while now, the largest care and repair business of all jewelers in the U.S. We have 1,400 master craftsman who are part of Signet and every day they size people's jewelry, polish it, fix the prongs and everything that you can imagine. But it's only recently that we've started talking to people about the custom creation opportunity.
What if a piece goes out of style or it just doesn't meet your taste anymore? How can you recraft it?
We now have 50 Jared stores that have a Foundry. They have computer-aided design (CAD) software, a 3-D printer. You can go in and take your mom's jewelry box that you've inherited and say, wow this is all sentimental to me. I'd love to do something with it, but it's not my style. And we can help you create a brand-new piece using those metals and stones. And it's a wonderful thing, especially for gen Z.
So we think of this whole circular economy of previously owned treasures, being able to recycle jewelry, and being able to recreate jewelry.
All of those we think are growing trends, especially with the new generation. And it's an area where we already have a presence, but we believe we can grow it substantially.
In March, Signet introduced its Purpose of Inspiring Love. It’s a North Star for Signet team members, as well as a lens that applies to all of the Company’s business decisions. The Purpose complements Signet’s longstanding mission of enabling all people to Celebrate Life and Express Love.
Here is Gina’s perspective on the importance of being a purpose-led company:
I've always thought that inspiring love in the world was so important. It unlocks all kinds of power of transformation in people's lives. And whatever my sphere of influence has been, I've wanted to make the world that I could touch a better place.
We have the wonderful opportunity and privilege to be part of so many of people's meaningful life moments. I think what's even more important to us is the idea of helping all people celebrate life and express love.
Most people know us by our banner names. Kay Jewelers, the number one jeweler in America. Zales, Jared, Piercing Pagoda and JamesAllen.com in the U.S. We also have People's Jewellers, which is number one in Canada, and H.Samuel and Ernest Jones in the UK.
What all of these banners have in common is that we have both a physical retail footprint of about 2,500 stores, as well as an ever-growing digital footprint and opportunity to interact with customers online. We're there to bring our mission to life and to help serve them whenever and however they want to shop.
Listen to the full podcast on your platform of choice.