Behind the dispute of the channels, the chain-store operations of cufflinks in the management model and operational innovation have its shadow. The connotation of the brand is difficult to fully embody. This situation is caused largely due to the lacking of competitive differentiation in the jewelry industry. Under the chain-store operation, what the enterprise performs is relatively similar to mode of operation.

From the selection of the shops to the display of the cufflinks and from the promotion and the staff to after-sales service, the only difference is the price differences and chase in the competition. In the eyes of the consumers, the only difference between each chain store is the level of the price. The lacking of differentiation makes the chain-store of cufflinks has been in the low-level operation of the price competition.

Faced with the trend of increasingly rational consumers and the branding trend as well as the arrivals of the foreign brands, the domestic jewelry industry in addition to perfect the internal mechanism must take the road of the brand of implementation of differentiated development. The cufflinks industry must put in time and energy to the brand competition in the jewelry market mainly from positioning. Positioning difference is the weapon and the advantage of the corporate to win in the competition. The competition of no difference is a low-level competition.

When Cartier and other foreign brands knocked the door of domestic market, they locked the high-end market, which is a good example. Whether it is the competition between different formats or inside the same circle of the industry, the differential positioning of the jewelry business is the most powerful weapon. Positioning difference is mainly demonstrated in the following two aspects.

Regarding to the positioning of the field of development, with the development of the jewelry industry and the entry of foreign capital, it can be expected that the jewelry cufflinks will become divided in the arrears of the entire country and lock regions. The enterprises of the first-mover advantage will extend the strength to a nationwide scope. Some companies keep a foothold in their own ranges of advantages making continuous efforts.

Build good cooperative relations with the upstream and take advantage of your strength to establish a mode of supply of customization, buyout and other delivery mode with the suppliers. In this way, you will obtain superiority in varieties, prices and time on the national or regional market. For the jewelry industry, the most obvious and common differentiation strategy other than to remove the service differentiation and marketing differentiation, the most basic and commonly used is the differentiation of the varieties of business strategy. Including varieties of positioning, pricing strategy, promotion and supporting, the enterprises should take a different differentiation strategy aimed at different cufflinks in accordance with different market positions of the chain stores in the regional market. This strategy also breaks the equivalent uniform operated by different stores.

The rapid expansion of the chain store of the cufflinks is the channel condition for the enterprises to achieve survival and sales to achieve a running volume. With the economic rise of China, people’s purchasing power has a great manifestation. Corresponds to this, the jewelry industry in China has made considerable development. Shanghai has gradually become the second largest center of the world jewelery consumption. Coupled with China’s economic duality, in this case, the significance and dominant position of the occupation of the main channels of the city becomes increasingly prominent.

Taking the full range of jewelery types of business and self-purchasing patterns into consideration is a universal mode of operation of the jewelry chain. Jewelry as a luxury, the ones really produced in the country are almost zero. Diamond products as well as the Jade cufflinks are exported from the different channels from the outside. The special characteristics of the products determine that the jewelery market unlike the home appliance can be produced inside the country or introduce the international manufacturers to set up production bases in the territory of China. Gold and diamond belonging to the minerals can not realize the local production. The product features further intensify the battle of the channels of cufflinks and jewelry.

No matter it is De Beers promoting the diamond products or the World Gold Council popularize the K-Gold Series of cufflinks, their institutions as a physical body is completely capable to do the Chinese market by their capital. But unfortunately, there were no existing channels. To lay down the channel of Chinese jewelry market is not as good as making use of existing channels. Moreover, the laying of channels can not be finished in one day. In this way, they can pass on the risk of operation and competition to the manufacturers of the channels. It is worth reminding that they have their own advantage of supply monopoly. So long as a promotion agency is set up in Shanghai, all the matters will logical.

The founding of the Shanghai Stock Exchange, whether diamonds or gold cufflinks act as a wholesale market in the essence. In this way, who took possession of the channel, he can get access to more capital to talk about cooperation prices with foreign suppliers. He can get more favorable terms. Therefore, the result is that until last year, the essence of the competition at this stage of Shanghai and the entire Chinese jewelry market still stays in the battle for the channel.

In addition, the rapid expansion of the jewelry chain in recent years has a direct connection with the pressure bought by the opening of China’s retail market. The gradual and full liberalization of the retail market attracts the foreign jewelry chain giant to enter to the Chinese market, which is full of temptations. Relative to foreign-funded enterprises, the jewelry chain also seems relatively small. To maintain the advantage in the market, the expansion of scale becomes inevitable.

If you have to give the jewelery industry in Shanghai a regional logo. I would like to say that the year of 2004 to some extent can be considered as a new milestone in Shanghai jewelry industry. In that year, no matter it is the strength of the jewelry in chain stores of the Hong Kong brand like Chow Tai Fook, Tse Sui Luen and Chow Sang Sang as the representative to continue staking their claims, or compared to the new cufflinks introduced by the De Beers and the World Gold Council in Shanghai, the more striking are several foreign big brands like the Cartier, Golden Elephant and other jewelry predators that land in the Mainland and Shanghai.

At first the operation mode is from multinational Jewelry institutions to Shanghai to do product promotion and supply resources of the cufflinks. Recently they begin to run the company on their own so that the Shanghai jewelry companies are jumping into a higher development level.

Shanghai’s jewelry business is located in a partial corner of China’s southeast side, but has gathered in dozens of different sized brands. In a sense, it indicates the development of the entire jewelry and cufflinks industry in China. As everyone knows that jewelry chain only has a brief development history of more than ten years. Even jewelry chain in the true sense has lasted for only 10 years or so. You can say it is the derivatives of the fierce competition of jewelry enterprises, or the introduction of advanced management mode. The chain enterprises of cufflinks and jewelry basically have experienced a process from small jewelry store to nearly one hundred jewelry stores and counters across the country.

Silverware shop of old yet famous name is one of the marks of the prototype of the Shanghai jewelry chain. The original rudiment of the jewelry chain, from the strict sense, is inspired by the single door or single-family old brands.  Coupled with hard work and the historical opportunity, there are successful brands appear in Shanghai one by one, such as the Old Phoenix, the old temple, EIB, Temple and Bao chain.

The chain operating of cufflinks and jewelry of true sense of began in 1995. So far it only has about 10 years of history, and entered into a road of comprehensive expansion. Different from other industries, almost none of the local jewelry business in the local region walks out of Shanghai and opening a store in other places. It is the Hong Kong-owned brands like Chow Tai Fook, TSL and other brands snatch market share in Shanghai and pull open the prelude to the battle of the business channels of jewelry and cufflinks. The arrival of the foreign big names like Cartier told another sign to the industry. It is a catalyst for the process of the brand of war.

The nature of the jewelry makes the chain store relative to other format has a unique advantage of scale, which is first reflected in the convenience of the purchase. Consumers can find the jewelry and cufflinks they want, and more importantly, the scale can bring the advantage in the aspect of price, which leads the retail price directly related to the consumers’ interests. The subjective purchase intention of the consumers tilts towards the jewelry chain. Due to the advantages of scale, the companies can reduce operating costs in the procurement, storage and management, directly providing the driving force for development and support for the chain stores.

I would like to offer the advice to those enterprises adopting this approach. What a multi-brand management may get is the increase in the sales temporarily, but they forget they can also cause permanent damage to the enterprise. With deepening of China’s accession to the global competition, the competition faced by the Chinese brands will become more intense. In such circumstances, the single-minded and a strong brand is the most effective marketing tool.

An influential brand has many incomparable advantages in the fierce market competition. Some analysts believe that the brands are lasting assets of a company, which is far-reaching than any of the products.  The president of Coca-Cola once said: If the Coca-Cola Company was destroyed by fire, he could have re-established a new company overnight. This is the value of the brand. When the companies think that the more the brands are and the better will be, the worries and problems will occur thereupon.

Establishing two or more operating modes of brands in the same type of product is called a multi-brand strategy. It is used by many companies. A major feature is that you may only get a fraction of the market share, and each profit is not high. That’s why enterprises should reduce the number of existing brands and commit to building the mainstream brands with higher profit margins. This is the view hold by Philip Kotler, known as the father of modern marketing by the U.S. marketing circles. By report, Procter & Gamble also began to use the primary brand strategy putting all his resources and capital to the first or second brand in the same products.

The building of a brand can not happen overnight. It is a systematic project, requiring the efforts of years of the operators. You do not only need to ensure the product quality, but also have to carefully maintain and continuous improve the brand. The real core of the multi-brand management is also a compromise and self-esteem. As one of the Ten Outstanding Planners of the Chinese enterprises of 2003 China and the Top 100 professional managers, Zhou Weihong seems to see thoroughly on this issue.

 Market is a double-edged sword. When the enterprises thought the purpose of the establishment of a new brand is only to bring more profits, rather than committing to the operation and maintenance of the brand. How long of the life of the brand can be? When some people predicted that in a number of years the Chinese jewelry market will have only a few big brands. The entrepreneurs dedicated to brand management should ask themselves that how can they cufflinks become a brand that the consumers can remember and are willing to buy rather than blindly thinking more of the addresses of the product. After all, the final determination the value of the brand rests in the hands of consumers.

At the moment, many companies inside the circle of the domestic jewelry industry started their own brand diversification and expansion. What do you think of the prospects? Is there any place deserves special attention in the business? The benefits of this method that can bring to the enterprise are that the start of a new brand can get quick success. But at the same time it will increase costs accordingly facing many changes in the market. In addition, the market occupied by the multi-brand strategy for each brand is different, so the corresponding share of the market is limited. If there is no absolute advantage, the profits of an enterprise are neither promising. There will be overlap between the two brands.

To adopt the multi-brand management, there are several principles to note for the Chinese industry of jewelry and cufflinks. First, you should base on the analysis of positioning of the brand to consumers. Select this strategy must return to the origin of the analysis of consumers’ demands. If there is a demand, there will be a reason for survivals. Brand in the final analysis is done for consumers rather than the corporate. I think that the secondary positioning of the brand must be built on the characteristics of mainstream consumer group of the brand. When the brand mix or overlap with the existed brands, you need to create the re-positioning of the new brand and change the strategy.

 For the multi-brand strategy in the diversified development, it is recommended the merger of the brand by the principle of “survival of the fittest”. You can spread the ideas of the companies in a particular cultural context so as to become the regional dominant brand. After all, the ultimate goal of the brand is to enter to the market with access to brand profits. Second, decide the means to promote the brand on the basis of the personality. Less of the brand of FMCG has absolute demarcated brand content, yet the differentiated measures can form a distinctive brand image. The third is based on resources to match the market. Highlight the personality and optimize the limited resources can harvest in their respective fields. It is the wisdom what the Chinese entrepreneurs need when they operate a multi-brand strategy. Generally, they will be successful. On the grounds of the direction of the competition, you can establish the spirit advancing with the times. You should make sure that each brand is constantly keeping up with the times. Do not attend to one thing and lose another.

For a company of cufflinks would like to use this method, I think we can consider its necessity from the following aspects so that the company may not fall into the blindness. In the field of jewelry enterprises, if the product line is long enough, you should treat it very carefully. The reasons are twofold. First, the long product line might reduce the position of the brand. The purchasing decisions of the consumers in large degree will be influenced by the products. The exploitation of the product and management will cost a lot of energy of the staff.

The single-brand strategy is a way for foreign durable products. For instance, it has recently implemented a brand shrinking strategy and put all resources into a brand. So to speak, before the formation of marketing architecture, multi-brand management is very dangerous. It needs a brand to occupy the main consumer groups, and take other brands as a secondary brand. When the target market of the brand is high-end cufflinks, but wants to enter into the low market as well. At this time, in order to make up for this market space, you can enable a new brand of cufflinks for this market. I think that the Chinese jewelery industry is not suitable for multi-brand management at present. But perhaps after a period of consolidation, it is time for the cufflinks industry to choose this strategy.

My understanding of the value of the can be summed up into one sentence. What the consumers can remember and the ones can be used in the purchase decision is the simplest comment. Multi-brand strategy is very costly and taking time. The companies should fully consider the business strength and management level. Without enough people, money, resources and considerable and accumulated experience in brand management, it is best not to act rashly. Otherwise it will throw good money after bad.

Is this point reasonable that the insiders believe that this multi-brand management can expand the dislocation of business and occupy a different market share? Does this point hold water? Some companies in China for the purposes of stationing in the terminal market and a good area would like to promote few brands. But that is not called a multi-brand and a brand with a lot of names. The operation of multi-name is possible, but it definitely does not last long. You should not run too far because you do not have the accumulation of brand of cufflinks and jewelry.

 Brand management is a long process. Acting as a brand, product positioning, personnel, price, service, access and shopping experience should have its own characteristics. For example, when you go to Carrefour and Wal-Mart, as they are the supermarkets, but you will feel very differently when shopping. This feeling is conveyed through the products and atmosphere the services have created. When the customer enters to the store and experience marketing, they can tell the success from the failure of the brand. It does not lie in your size, but whether you have committed to long-term development. They key is the accumulation of the brand over a long period. So if you want to operate with more than one name, you ask yourself that how many people know you. How high of your brand awareness in the minds of consumers? In my opinion, the more competitive the market is, the greater the likelihood of success of the brand-specific business model.

The debate on this topic is not new. When Procter & Gamble brand made crazy and great achievements in the products of Pantene, Head & Shoulders and Rejoice and many domestic commitment to multi-brand development companies often fail, the issue should be attached more importance and valued by more domestic businesses and professionals.

Traditional promotion ideas of the cufflinks industry tradition have two methods. First, set up the brand and affect the suppliers and consumers through the appealing of the brand, such as the Chou Tai Fook. The second is the innovative style to pave the way and lead the new product by light of concepts and advertising market, such as the Tung Wah Group of diamonds, Tse Sui Luen, EIB, etc. Comprehensive analysis of both techniques requires huge advertising support. What most of the jewelry enterprises need is the effectiveness of marketing? It can quickly realize the sales of products into the market and can lay the foundation for future brand building and product promotion.

Therefore, the concept marketing should be the best way to quickly achieve these above ideals of jewelry and cufflinks enterprises. It is both a way of thinking of the decisions of the marketing communication and pragmatic and efficient start-market methods of operation. When you practice a simple to the extreme, you still can get the unexpected results.

In a jewelry show in 2003, the reporter had asked a corporate CEO, what is the difference the company’s brand positioning? He answered that there is no major differences. Two brands of the cufflinks are conductive to march into the market for convenience. These words reflect a state of mind of the corporate that carry on multi-brand management. Then at the same time it brings benefits to the enterprise, what will the multi-brand management bring to the enterprises?

When a large number of Chinese jewelry enterprises are beginning to realize the importance of brand, it is also the period that most of the problems occur during the process of the brand management. One of the questions make them confused mostly is should they adopt the strategy of single brand or multi-brand management. Some people think that a single brand management can focus on the funds and the strength of the cufflinks enterprises with higher rate of success. It is also suggested that multi-brand management allows companies to expand the dislocation of business, occupying a different market share. More people are perplexed and lost in the right direction. So in the end, what kind of business strategy is more suitable for the current Chinese jewelry business?

Reporters invited the authority with insights in the jewelry industry to discuss on this topic. We hope more and more enterprisers who pay more attention to this issue and take part in our discussion. The road of brand management of China’s jewelry and cufflinks industry can be wider, higher and more exciting. It is a controversial topic whether select a single brand or multi-brand management. According to the status of the Chinese jewelery industry, may I ask which one is more suitable for the development of enterprises?

Now a lot of international companies are inclined to put the multi-brand strategy into use. China’s jewelry industry has not set off this wave. It is hard to say which kind of strategy to choose. Personally, I think a lot of foreign companies are more willing to choose multi-brand strategy. But for the domestic enterprises, it depends on the real situation of the enterprises, such as the resources of the enterprises.

The success of the series of Midnight Enchantress of our company is a poof in case as it starts to find the root of the product itself. The concept on the grounds of the style cleverly caters to group psychology of male consumers and fit in exactly what they wish, which is the basis of this activity leaping into fame. The world’s first jewelry of “break-up” between the lovers, “The Lover’s Tears”, put the advantages of the unique. It acts in a diametrically opposite way but has vividly conveyed the concept of treason upon the unique urban women. World Platinum Guild launched the flag of PT. The extremely simple yet profound letters prize the door of the huge platinum market in a rational manner. Any kind of dissemination and promotion should be conducted tightly around the concept and transforms the unique product concept into the advantages communication and market.

 The concept marketing is one of the means mostly used in recent years, but also has encountered much criticism. Should we adopt the concept marketing to promote the cufflinks in the end? Simply speaking from the jewelry industry, it is a topic without of need for debate. It is like asking a woman to make up. The concept positioning is a description to the visualization and lifelikeness of the products. It is a necessary means and way to highlight the personality of the cufflinks and attract consumers’ attention.

Without concept, the jewelry and cufflinks will lose life and meaning. At best they can only be regarded as a piece of arts and crafts. Gold will be sold in accordance with the gold market. The concept will provide the jewelry and cufflinks a coat f culture sot that the products can have the tension that not possessed by itself. Such a tension will accommodate the additional value of a jewelry brand. For instance, the World Gold Council has refined the concept of K-Gold Series: are you fashionable enough? It vividly and particularly interpret the functions and values ​​of the K gold series.

People have long been familiar with the use of precious metals. Jewelry is essentially the precious metal with additional value of craft or the products of the rare mineral. How to give these products cultural connotations is to endow the jewelry with life, making people’s eyes light up with delight. The concept is right in place with a new entry point. People have already lost confidence in some styles of gold cufflinks, longing for the appearance of the products out of the ordinary. The emergence of clever concept plays up to the needs of the market.

In the process of marketing communication, like a man, jewelry and cufflinks have a specific character. So, after the completion of the packaging of the concept of the product and right before the launch of the activities of marketing communications, it is necessary to convey the main line for the products, that is, clearly specify the character of the product. It is convenient for consumers to identify cufflinks and also can prevent other businesses from copying.

Quite a few companies, lacking of a unique and clear feature or because it is stereotyped or inconstant in policy lead them to the road of confusion in the final cause, not to mention consumers. They did not spend less in the aspect of advertising. Yet the consumers do not buy it. A jeweler in Shanghai, for example, launched a program of advertising— Diamond Storm, buying a diamond ring ONLY. Such an ad is short of strength of appealing and impact.

Moreover, it can not fully embody the personality of the cufflinks. Although it serves as marketing programs of this year with coherence and can express the cheap price at the same time, compared with the same industry and the same products at the same level, this advantage can not be really regarded as superiority no matter how good your products are. Its critical flaw is that they did not attach a concept to the cufflinks so that there is no clear character to label the products.

Many people understand that after the air mortars, the foot soldiers must occupy the battle field quickly. Some companies do not master the essence of concept marketing. They still can not deal well the problems like let the cufflinks step down the counter and approach the customer to spread the concept of the products and affect the customers by actions. They can not even solve the problems of soft landing such as the marketing communication. To race the source, it makes two mistakes, namely, marketing lazy disease and the disease of advertising.

The first man is destined to screw the marketing in that marketing is the cause of the hard-working people. The second kind only depends on good luck as a purely advertising can not solve the problems most of the time. The two short-circuits of marketing is greedy and far-fetched. They always believe that the bigger the activities are, the better the effect will be. As a result, they often plan some unrealistic and so-called creative activities, which the companies simply can not digest. Furthermore, the idea that more often the activities are hold, more customers they will get is out of date. For the sake of creation, they develop one after another program with obvious individuality but without a coherent theme. When the consumers can not fully understand and accept them, there will new activities. It is nothing but a waste of labor land money with little success.

Some jewelers invited the well-known supermodel and Miss World to do advertising. Only aerial advertising bombing can not fulfill the original intention without follow-up activities on the ground. The external ling place the poster of Lin Chi-ling while hanging flags in their stores is eyeful of pictures of Maggie Cheung, member of World Platinum Guild. It is a refraction of the real situation of the activities on the ground. Old Phoenix, an old jeweler, spends very little on advertising. What it rely on is lasting promotional strategies. It even achieves sales of more than one hundred million RMB. Little-known company stands firm foothold in the industry of jewelry and cufflinks depending on accurate positioning and three-dimensional promotion of actual effect.

As to Cartier’s public promotional activities, the theme of “The Emperor’s jewelry, jewelry’s Emperor” is very distinct and closely related to the product. Besides, the ad is highly consistent with the product positioning. With unique marketing carrier and media selection, the whole promotional activities from the content to the form have a clear target and certain affinity. This is one of the reasons that Cartier in a short time can go deeply into the market of Shanghai and accepted by consumers.

 In today’ jewelry market, the massive situation is increasingly clear. The communication models of small and medium-sized enterprises tend to the state of guerrilla warfare. Many people thus believe that the marketing model is in a mess and different from the already planned marketing model in the past years. Actually, if you insist on that marketing has a fixed pattern, then the best model for communication and marketing of cufflinks and jewelry is concept marketing.

We have many counterparts in the mention of the concept of marketing, they regard that they have to think of an earth-shattering ideas or it will not be concept marketing. As a matter of fact, the concept is not the appearance of ideas one by one. As the planner, no one can always come up with fresh and creative ideas, which is really unrealistic. Therefore, too much talk about creativity by the luxury brands of cufflinks and jewelry in turn will make the originality sound very lively, but very misty and empty in truth.

Like other industries, experienced the war of concept, the advertising campaign, terminal war and service battle, almost all of the marketing people in the cufflinks industry are caught in a double awkward position. On the one hand, they are omniscient towards the market. On the one hand, the sad is they do not know how to commence the marketing. Therefore, for most jewelry marketing people, to comb out the context and framework of the communication and establish a simple operating model is very necessary. The significance is exactly as the people in the novels of Kim Yong who practice the action of drawing sword thousands of times every. As the old saying goes, practice makes perfect.

 The marketing communications of cufflinks differ from other products. The function of the cufflinks and jewelry is rather single and the material nature tends to be unified. Therefore, the product style, that is, the additional value of art is the source and soul of the communication. The same as the clothing and other industries, consumption of jewelry must take a journey of advocating cultural consumption. The concept marketing is just to add these cultural connotations to the products. Personally, I think that the concept of packaging, the dissemination of the main line, and activities of promotion is respectively relative to the clothing dress, personality traits and behavior as the main body of the products. The three factors constitute the framework of the marketing communication of jewelry and the cufflinks.

When the breakthrough of the market puzzles us, we might divert the sight to the products themselves and find a breach from the root. Each product has its own unique feature, such as style, material or process. The key is whether we are good at discovering and applying them or not. There are always a considerable number of people either confined by their vision and capacity or stopped by over-ambition want to put forward a remarkably original and forceful idea. They often feel that they have nothing to say about the products. In fact, this is a misunderstanding.