Q&A: Boodles Chairman, Nicholas Wainwright, shares his thoughts

18 Aug 2021

Image: Boodles Family. Left to right; James Amos, Jody Wainwright, Nicholas Wainwright and Michael Wainwright. Credit: Boodles

Ahead of his talk at the NAJ Summit 2021, Boodles Chairman, Nicholas Wainwright, pictured centre right above, who has more than 50 years’ experience in the jewellery trade, answers some of our questions about customer loyalty, staying focused and bouncing back from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Anticipation is growing ahead of Wainwright’s talk at the Retail Jewellers’ Congress, hosted by the JET Business Network (JBN) on Monday, September 13, 

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What do you think are the principles of Boodles’ success?

I think in any business, focus is the most important thing. Certainly, for Boodles over the past 50 years we have focused, and we try not to be all things to all people. We have concentrated on fine jewellery because it’s what we love and what we feel can give us individuality and turn us into a brand. The principles of striving for excellence, of going for top quality, and trying to make everything better year-after year, are very important to us. On top of that, I think relationships with customers is vital, especially when one is trying to sell valuable jewellery. If we can grow and maintain relationships with customers who enjoy jewellery and appreciate fine jewellery, this is unbelievably valuable. Especially during lockdown, we were able to keep in close contact with many of our customers.

 

How did you engage with your customers during the COVID-19 pandemic and what can you tell us about the way Boodles engages customers more generally?

We kept in close contact with customers, either by contacting them or going out to see them. For example, we had picnics with them in the lovely sunny weather. We did around 10-15 wine tastings with different groups of customers, and we sent them presents. Generally, we didn’t forget about them throughout the pandemic. 

Part of developing relationships is offering customers something money can’t buy. For example, at Boodles, we are exhibiting at the Chelsea Flower Show with our own ‘Secret Garden’ in September 2021. We are inviting many of our customers to join us for a drinks party. We also have the Royal Box at Covent Garden, where we are a sponsor, and we are also a major sponsor of Salon Privé Ladies’ Day, which give us an opportunity to create relationships by inviting our customers to sporting or cultural events. Relationships don’t happen by accident and, of course, service in our shops is critical, but these events and sponsorships give our sales team the opportunity to invite their customers to events that they may not normally attend. Of course, this costs money, but if you can generate this back through profits, this is an excellent way of putting the ‘icing on the cake’.

 

You recently announced that Boodles is expanding to Leeds – what was the rationale behind this decision?

We have been looking to open a tenth store for a few years. We looked at places overseas, which sound exciting, including Monaco and Madison Avenue in New York. But, in reality, it is a totally different ballgame. We have got very good British customers and so, we thought, ‘where is the next best place to open in the UK?’ and Leeds got the nod. It’s relatively close to our Manchester store and we’ve got lots of customers in Yorkshire, so we felt this was an obvious place to go. We also considered Scotland and the Midlands. Hopefully, we will be opening just before Christmas. We have always got to push business forward and we are quietly confident about Leeds. I am very excited about it.

 

How do you and the wider Boodles team ensure you are always striving for excellence year-on-year?

Life is changing very fast in every area of business and certainly there is no exception for jewellers. We always want to get better. In fact, we are undergoing a big, professional mystery shopping project for our stores right now, not to find mistakes but to point us in the direction of how we can get better still. It is always our drive, whether it’s the quality and design of our jewellery, the training of our staff or the shop fits, everything we do is to try and be more excellent than we were before.

There has undoubtedly been a shift towards digital and ecommerce in recent months. How is Boodles adapting to this transition and do you have any thoughts on how this will impact luxury jewellery sales?

Obviously the British public are more used to buying things online than previously and we have spent a significant amount of money on our website. During lockdown and since our e-commerce sales have done significantly better. However, when it comes to selling more valuable jewellery, perhaps £10,000 pounds or more, we found there’s been a reluctance [to complete the entire sale] by ecommerce. So, now, we have a member of the team who follows up our ecommerce enquiries. What starts as an ecommerce sale ends up with the customer receiving in-person service, attention and we may even go out to see the client to make a sale. Digital sales are important, of course, and they are going to get more important, but for Boodles they are an opportunity or an investment for the future. I don’t think that sales of £20,000, £30,000 or more are going to be easy to do by ecommerce alone.

Is there anything you would like to impart to attendees of the NAJ Summit?

I have been in the trade for 54 years, possibly too long! I’m still there, partly because I love it and partly because I’ve a passion for Boodles. I hope to share with Congress attendees the importance of striving for excellence, of curating their own ‘look’ and their own brand. I also hope to encourage attendees to focus more on jewellery and fine jewellery and maintain standards of service, integrity and decency. These are standards that should never change. We’ve got to catch-up with the business we were doing in 2018 and 2019.

Now is an opportunity to look very closely at your offering and focus on profitability. After all, this is the engine room of business. Focus on the areas where you’re making money and go into those in an even more significant way. Again, try not to be all things to all people. The days of the county jeweller are lovely memories and, yes, we want to strive for the standards they had, but we can’t simply replicate what we did 30 years ago. Time has moved on.

 

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Source: The NAJ