Gray and Sons Jewelers today announced a recent increase in sales volume thanks to the company’s three-prong strategy blending the traditional and modern strategies of brick-and-mortar storefront sales, direct mail catalogs, and eCommerce. Established more than four decades ago, Gray and Sons Jewelers has become famous worldwide for selling, buying, repairing, and consigning luxury pre-owned jewelry as well as modern, vintage, and antique timepieces. Despite the increasing trend towards direct-to-consumer brands based exclusively online and operating solely as eCommerce businesses, Gray and Sons Jewelers has been able to maintain a thriving storefront next to the Bal Harbour Shops in Miami. Gray and Sons Jewelers’ founders believe the true key to their most recent spike in success can be attributed to their varied approach to sales and marketing, which combines the old with the new.
“There’s a notion out there that digital advertising is cheaper than running a brick and mortar store, but the reality is that online ads and digital marketing are costlier than ever,” said Keith Gray, founder, Gray and Sons Jewelers. “We’re proud to have continually operated our store here in Miami for 42 years and to have successfully combined it with a savvy digital presence and physical catalog mailed monthly nationwide. We owe everything to our customers, who are loyal and love to see our latest offerings whether it’s in the mail, online, or in-person.”
As a top U.S. luxury estate jewelry and watch company, Gray and Sons Jewelers offer the following brands of watches in-store and online:
- Rolex
- Patek Phillipe
- Cartier
- Girard Perregaux
- Hublot
- Audemars Piguet
- Ulysse Nardin
- Jaeger LeCoultre
- Vacheron Constantin
- Piaget
- Richard Mille
- A Lange & Sohne
- Breitling
- Louis Vuitton
- Baume & Mercier
- IWC
- Omega
- Parmigiani
- Chopard
- Breguet
- Bvlgari
- Bulova
- Corum
- Tag Heuer
- Panerai
Images of these elite watches as well as other high-end jewelry, diamonds, and sterling silver offered by Gray and Sons Jewelers are sent across the country to 20,000 to 50,000 aficionados in award-winning hard copy catalogs. G&SJ also reaches hundreds of thousands of customers through its website, email newsletter, social media channels, and overall internet presence.
Gray and Sons Jewelers is a prime example of a fascinating trend that played out across the United States in the last year according to the New York Times as physical stores beat online shopping in 2021: “Americans spent 18 percent more on food, cars, furniture, electronics, and other retail products last year compared with 2020, according to the Commerce Department. Online retail sales increased by 14 percent. In other words, e-commerce lost ground last year to brick-and-mortar stores.”
While you might imagine that COVID-19 would crush family-owned businesses with physical locations, Gray and Sons Jewelers has flourished in spite of the pandemic and the trend towards online-only sales. By leveraging the power of a multi-fold marketing and sales approach, Gray and Sons Jewelers has served both domestic and international customers in-person, by mail, and through connecting online.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the rising costs of doing business online are making physical retail more appealing for e-commerce brands. Even online sales giants such as Amazon and Wayfair are opening brick-and-mortar shops.
One of the aspects that have separated Gray and Sons Jewelers from the competition is its on-site repair and restoration facilities, where five Swiss-trained watchmakers with over 150 years of combined experience, and jewelers, meticulously repair and restore vintage heirlooms to like-new condition. All certified pre-owned watches undergo a rigorous 86-step inspection and restoration process. They are so confident in the quality of the timepieces they sell that they proudly offer their exclusive 12-month warranty on all watches and a 24-month warranty on selected Rolex watches. When a watch leaves Gray & Sons, no matter the age, it leaves in pristine condition.
While many might assume that one storefront can only show its watches and jewelry to a limited number of customers each month, Gray and Sons Jewelers has been able to reach hundreds of thousands of people all over the country through its free full-color catalog, social media channels, and website. Gray and Sons Jewelers produces a monthly world-class 76-page catalog filled with hundreds of full-size pictures from their watch and jewelry inventory. Considered by most marketers to be near extinction, Gray and Sons’ hard copy mail-in catalog is extremely popular with Gray and Sons’ customers and makes up an important third pillar of the company's business. The catalog, with its eclectic collection of pre-owned jewelry, GIA-certified diamonds, collectible timepieces, client photos, testimonials and watch stories, is a coffee table conversation piece. Most of the items are one-of-a-kind, and many eager customers anxiously await the arrival of their catalog in the mail so they can rush through it and call in for certain items before they are sold.
To offset the anticipation some people have about buying something that they haven't been able to physically hold and examine, Gray & Sons ships out all pre-owned items with a 10-day no-questions-asked return policy for an exchange or full refund. This integrated marketing, sales, and return policy has proved to be beloved by customers nationwide.
Gray and Sons Jewelers started more than 42-years-ago as a pioneer in the pre-owned wristwatch business. At the time the idea of selling and buying used wristwatches was completely unexplored. Early on, in the late 1990s, Keith Gray launched a website featuring used watches and has worked to keep up with the constant evolution of online sales trends. Thanks to superb customer service, such as having knowledgeable watch and jewelry specialists ready to answer questions six days a week, the business has been able to thrive online. With the right mix of marketing, customer service, and excellent product offerings, Gray & Sons has grown both its online presence and sales.
Keith Gray can be made available for select in-person interviews in the Miami region with television news media and Zoom interviews with media outlets nationwide. For more information visit www.grayandsons.com.
About Gray and Sons Jewelers: Founded in Miami Beach in 1980, Gray and Sons Jewelers has grown from a single shop to a globally-known name in the luxury watch and jewelry market with customers from around the world. Founded by Keith Gray, today the shop operates a bustling physical shop near the famous Bal Harbour Shops in Miami, as well as a full-service website, and delivers thousands of full-color catalogs as well.
