Transcript of the National Retail Federation “NRF Recording - Tina & Brian Gavin Diamonds”
- Danny Gavin, VP and Director of Marketing, Brian Gavin Diamonds
- Tina Fan, Chief Customer Officer, Bolt
Bolt’s Chief Customer Officer, Tina Fan, and Danny Gavin, VP of Marketing of Brian Gavin Diamonds continue their discussion on the next big thing in ecommerce and how Bolt’s Single Sign-On Commerce (SSO Commerce ™) empowers brands to stay ahead, specifically how SSO commerce is revolutionizing retail and laying the foundation for identity powered commerce.
Selling on Big Marketplaces like Amazon is not an Option
Tina Fan
Removing hurdles during checkout is only the first step towards a greater trend that we've seen in retail, a shift towards what we call identity-powered commerce. With marketplaces like Amazon, shoppers are already used to never having to type in their information again, no matter what item they're about to purchase. But with marketplaces, brands like Brian Gavin Diamonds would lose their direct-to-consumer relationships. That brand experience that you so carefully built over the last few decades is really important. What are your thoughts on offering your diamonds to the marketplace? A place like Amazon or any other place like that?
Danny Gavin
That's a great question. We've looked at Amazon a couple of times. The first thing specifically is Amazon doesn't do a good job with selling diamonds and building customer engagement rings. It doesn't even fit our product that well. There's also the undercurrent of giving your data to Amazon because then they might learn to do it themselves. So, we've always felt that getting near Amazon is not necessarily something that we want to do. Sometimes you must go there if your products are being found there and you're not there, you're going to miss out. But I would say, at least in this high-end luxury market, specifically with diamonds and jewelry, it's not there, and we kind of want to own our data and have a little bit more control. As of now, it's not something that we're looking towards.
SSO Commerce Is Bridging an Important Gap in Retail
Tina Fan
Which leads me to the next innovation that Bolt is releasing, which is Bolt Single Sign-On CommerceTM. Marketplaces as we mentioned, can be a great way for shoppers to discover brands, and have that convenience of their single identity. But it can be challenging for brands to build that relationship with their customers. So when brands try to build that direct relationship with their customers, they now need to manage their identities across the brands and that puts the weight on the shopper. We've found a way to bridge that gap with a single-digital identity for shoppers where they don't have to type in their info over and over again. And retailers get to keep their brand experience but offer the same ease and convenience as the marketplace. We create a Bolt account and create a merchant account in parallel during that process, too, and create this win-win situation for both parties.
According to Campaign Monitor, it's 350% more profitable to sell to an existing customer than a new one. Being able to give that unknown shopper a return customer experience on your site will have a significant impact on the conversions during that final checkout process. I know that Brian Gavin Diamonds is also evaluating and hopefully adopting SSO Commerce. Any thoughts on store accounts and that returning customer experience?
Danny Gavin
Yes, for us, it's even more important because of the type of site we are. People aren't necessarily coming for their smaller jewelry purchases, but our goal is to increase that. For most people it's a larger purchase, an engagement ring, the wedding band, but not necessarily to buy a pair of earrings for the first or second anniversary, or when a baby comes along. If there's a way to have those accounts and try to push those smaller jewelry purchases that happen in between the larger ones, that's the name of the game. How can we get people to come back and make it easy for them to purchase more?
Staying Ahead of the Competition in a Post-COVID-19 World
Tina Fan
Thank you for that. Are there any other trends in the retail industry or things that you’ve seen that we didn’t cover in this or part one of this webinar?
Danny Gavin
I think I just want to elaborate a little more on the idea that we do live in a different age now and the fact that COVID has changed this to a primarily online world. Because there are still lots of people that aren't online, I do think the competition in every arena is going to get more intense. It’s going to be a lot more competitive and as Internet retailers, as people who are involved in e-commerce, we're going to have to pivot and get smarter with what we do. And therefore, whatever we can do to get that advantage is amazing. Teaming up with Bolt and fixing up our shopping cart experience and adding all the other features that Bolt is rolling out in the future are huge. This will allow retailers to be successful and continue to grow their businesses, even with that increase of competition.
Tina Fan
Thank you so much for participating in this discussion with me. I really appreciate you taking the time, and we always appreciate you being our customer number 10 and staying loyal with us!
Danny Gavin
My pleasure. Thank you so much.
Watch the full recording of the session.
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Tina Fan, Chief Customer Officer, Bolt
Tina Fan, the Chief Customer Officer at Bolt, is a dedicated technology executive and customer enthusiast with expertise in selling and leading customer solutions, creating and mentoring high performing teams, and growing a business. Experienced in management, operations, and technology consulting for global customers in various industries and building startups.
Danny Gavin, VP of Marketing, Brian Gavin Diamonds
Danny is the Vice President and Director of Marketing at Brian Gavin Diamonds leading their marketing efforts that focus on exceptional customer service and relationships, selling diamonds online since 1999. He also teaches digital marketing at Bauer College of Business at the University of Houston as an adjunct professor.
About Brian Gavin Diamonds
Brian Gavin Diamonds has been selling diamonds online since 1999. Originating from Amsterdam, moving down to South Africa, and then over to America, Houston, Texas, BGD has been in the diamond industry for over six generations, not only do they sell brilliant diamonds, but also have founded several patents and provide an unparalleled focus on customer service.