GOLD COUNCIL - INFORMATION PROGRAM

The World Gold Council has launched a Retail Information Program to help retailers boost gold jewelry sales. The program includes seminars, one-on-one consultations and seasonal, directional and statistical publications.

Under the umbrella title of Jewelry Market Reports WGC will provide: Gold Jewelry Directions, a twice-yearly brochure that identifies merchandise design directions and illustrates with examples. WGC will mail the brochure to more than 10,000 retailers; jewelry featured in it will be displayed at the council’s booth at major international trade shows.

Twice-annual brochures will take an in-depth look at a broad spectrum of merchandise by specific classification. The first one, now available, is devoted to earrings. Merchandise updates will be published throughout the year to introduce product/designer innovations, information on sources, news from abroad and technological information.

The annual Gold Jewelry Retail Sales report includes an overview of national retail sales, average prices and sales by channel, classification and season. Information is collected from more than 1,300 retailers annually, including independent and chain jewelry stores, department stores, catalog showrooms and discount stores. This report is supplemented with quarterly updates.

Training program: WGC and the Gemological Institute have developed the GIA Gold Seminar, a three-hour workshop to be presented around the country. The seminar is an introduction to the first GIA 12-part home-study course dedicated to gold and precious metals.

WGC will provide a consultant-like service to many council partners, by customizing sales training and product knowledge to specific retailer needs, in the form of seminars, printed brochures and videos. The training videos “Golden Time” and “Golden Moments,” will teach jewelry salespeople the finer points of gold karatage, colors, finishes and care in four-minute segments.

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