Parify is delivering a variety of innovative lighting solutions to improve presentation of jewellery by retailers, owner Scot Walker tells Jewellery Outlook Editor David Brough.
What services does Parify offer to the jewellery trade?
We deliver, as Parify Group, two distinct offerings. Parify Ltd is our jewellery focused Lighting manufacturer, specifically producing lighting for this industry. We sell not only in the UK, but also in Canada, Europe, Australia and Africa.
Progressive Display, on the other hand, is our shop-fitting arm: this company is responsible for building beautiful new jewellery stores from scratch, or re-fitting existing stores as per clients’ demands.
Since Covid has reared its ugly head, we have also leveraged our supply chain to source, stock and provide various sterilisation and personal protection items to assist our colleagues on the retail side of the industry, such as Ultraviolet Sterilisation boxes, UVC (Ultraviolet C) downlights, and Hand Gels amongst other products.
This was a very reactionary diversion from our core business, but we recognised early on in 2020 that we could play a very important part in the war against Covid, and set about using our knowledge and suppliers to pull together and offer various solutions.
How can these services make a difference to jewellery businesses, eg how can a well-lit window display help to boost sales?
Without it sounding like a cliché, there is no life without light. Diamonds and in fact all gemstones need a light source to bring them to life.
Window displays which are correctly lit are in many circumstances the first impression a potential customer will have of your product, so portraying it under specifically designed lights to show off its intricacies, details and inner beauty will ensure you are that much closer to securing a sale.
Further into the store, the process must be consistent, with the same type, colour and effectual lighting used over the sales desks to ensure the jewellery looks the same in the customer’s hand as it did in the window.
At Parify, we understand this, and that is why our solutions are designed in such a way as to complement the sales process and give the retailer the best possibility of closing the sale.
Can you please give one or two examples or testimonials demonstrating how Parify made a difference to a jewellery client?
Tell us about what you have been doing to encourage people get back to the high street?
“Back on the Highstreet” is an initiative which we developed during (the UK’s) Lockdown 1 (in spring last year).
Many of our customers were in continuous contact, as many have become friends over the years.
And it quickly became apparent that the retailers that were thriving were the ones with a strong digital presence, and good marketing.
We then decided to pull together some incredible human resources with skills in many areas to enable us to facilitate the transition from no e-commerce, to full-on e-commerce.
We invested in building a digital backbone, put the development in, tried and tested the theory and now have the ability to get people online, with a full trading e-commerce website in only five days.
This is unheard of in the ‘black magic’ world of the internet, but by doing all the preliminary work upfront, it lubricates the process, and enables us to offer this at a very, very low entry cost.
Back on the Highstreet’s primary objective is ensuring the survival of the independent retailer, as without these prominent stores, the whole industry is at risk, so if we can prepare them for digital trade, driving footfall into their stores, rewarding loyalty, we will ensure that they survive on the high street, and are able to offer their loyal customers the ‘experience’ of buying wonderful jewellery that they cannot get on the internet.
In what new and innovative ways will Parify be focusing on the jewellery sector in 2021?
We will be focusing on further development of Ultraviolet Sterilisation lighting for retailers, thereby ensuring that the staff and customers are as protected as possible in the stores.
This is quite a difficult challenge as UVC is particularly damaging to humans, so the protection measures need to be in place and be foolproof – Military grade Human Presence Sensors ensure the technology is not active whilst humans are in the room as an example.
We have patents pending for this technology and it will become what we believe, a mandatory requirement in the future to protect from viruses and airborne diseases.
In terms of jewellery lighting, we are developing the portfolio of products continually, our flagship Rotating Diamond Sparkle light will be joined by a slimline sibling in the line-up, for use specifically in cabinetry, and efficiencies will be made to all lights within our range as technology moves forward.
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