William May – an on-line success story

25 Jun 2021

Image: Heavy Jewellery, william-may.co.uk

Manchester-based jeweller and NAJ member William May has seen sales of pre-owned jewellery rise by a massive 250 per cent during the last lockdown. The Jeweller editor Belinda Morris asked owner Nick Withington about the part e-commerce has played in this success.

When did the business start selling online – is that something that you personally instigated?

Mays is a long-established business in the Manchester community and has been running for nearly 200 years. Our digital transformation started in 2014 when we launched the William May brand. The name pays homage to the first store opened by the Mays group in 1825. Being a traditional business the initial push to move online was initiated by me – I could see where the market was trending, so brought in a new set of digital skills with our web team.

What prompted the e-commerce move and how did you go about it? For instance, did you hire an agency to create it for you, or was it all done in-house?

The move to e-commerce was prompted by market changes; we were seeing the rise of e-commerce giants, selling a cross-category range of products. And we did however notice a clear gap in the market in the pre-owned jewellery sector which gave us the confidence to make the change. Most of the work done has been weighted on in-house staff, coming from different digital backgrounds to create our team, we do however work with key partners and agencies in specialised areas. For our imagery, we are proud to say all our images are real product images, taken in-house by our photography and graphic design team.

How quickly did the e-commerce platform take off?

It took a few years of trial and error, as well as finding the best practices that suit our business. We did however see rapid YoY growth with our second year, bringing in five times the volume of orders than the first.

Were there any teething issues/drawbacks - ie returns, shipping problems?

To be completely honest we didn’t have many teething issues. We still see a low number of returns, which is down to the photography and detailed information of the products. We also have very few issues with shipping and fraud because of the processes we have always had in place since the launch of the site.

Do you still operate from bricks & mortar stores or has online totally replaced that?

We still have, and will continue to have a strong physical retail presence. We currently have six stores in the Greater Manchester area and with lockdown and restrictions easing, we’ve been happy to welcome our customers back in our stores.

What percentage of what you sell is pre-owned v. new?

Around 75 per cent of our business is in pre-owned items.

Do you have a particular type of customer for your products and how do you market to them?

We really have something for everyone; one of our key USPs is the sheer number of unique designs we stock. To cater for this we cast a wide net in our targeting with marketing running on all key digital platforms.

How do you account for such a massive spurt in sales during lockdown last year? What were you doing right?!

We were simply in the right place at the right time. Previous to the lockdown we had been investing in our online presence for over six years, something which many of our competitors were late in starting. This gave us the advantage of having a tried and tested marketing and service strategy in place that was ready to scale.

What are your main sellers/trends in sales? Are some sales really big-ticket items that are more difficult to source – such as Rolex watches for example?

Some of our best-selling pieces are the heavier gold chains and bracelets which historically we have been able to source pre-owned, but as these have become harder to source we have had to supplement with new. We also do very well with pre-owned Rolex watches but as demand for these pieces has gone stratospheric in recent years, and the competition has increased alongside that, they are becoming increasingly harder to source.

How are sales now that we've returned to (more or less) normality?

We’re happy to say we’re still going strong. The online market is still there and still growing; we are in a stronger position than we were pre-lockdown, with more of the public open to ordering online and having had positive experiences with our business.

What plans do you have for expanding and developing your business?

We will continue to expand and develop our online business as that is where the opportunity for scale and growth is. We are currently in the process of re-platforming which should open up a host of new opportunities. Ultimately our aim is to maintain our position as the number one pre-owned online jewellers.

What advice would you give to NAJ retailers thinking of (finally) looking at e-commerce? Or to those who're doing it but not so successfully?

Really get to know your market and who your customer is so you can target them effectively and efficiently without wasting resources.

Explore William May

 

Source: The National Association of Jewellers