From traditional sales channels like brick-and-mortar stores to the emerging online shops and the recently prevalent pop-up stores, ways of jewellery retailing have never been as diverse as they are in today’s market environment. Before getting to know these channels well, another more innovative and cost-effective retail outlet has come into our sight, surprised us in a good way.
New York-based designer Marla Aaron who was in search for an unorthodox place to buy jewellery installed her eponymous brand’s first jewellery vending machine, which could be the industry’s first, at the Brooklyn Museum on 8 December 2017 in the city. The machine, with no glass panel front like others, shows information of the brand and the products on a touch screen display, providing customers with a convenient purchase. Different from the brand’s online and traditional stores, price points of the products sold through the machine are lower ranging from US$150 to $1,500 with 300 pieces of jewellery from the brand’s signature collection Locks in seven styles. Product value in the machine totals between US$30,000 and $50,000.
The idea of selling jewellery through a vending machine sprouted after Aaron’s trip to Japan in 2016 where countless vending machines were selling different kinds of products on the streets, she told Hong Kong Jewellery. Since the debut of the machine, customers’ feedback has been incredibly well. Aaron said: “People have shopped and interacted with it [the machine] in an extraordinary way. This is not just an interesting way for selling fine jewellery, it is also interesting to think about selling handmade objects. It allows our customers to experience our brand in a fun and unusual manner.”
An experimental retail outlet, the vending machine is also a branding vessel for Marla Aaron. Incorporating different product selections which are changed regularly together with the exterior wrap, the machine presents the brand in a more direct and intimate way interacting with customers in real time. “It’s just another way to get in touch with customers and one should be firing on all cylinders and trying new things all the time,” Aaron stated. “Any opportunity to get our customers to explore our brand is valid. This happens to be an exciting one.”
Recognised for its streamlined, industrial look design style, Marla Aaron is deeply rooted in the personal and emotional jewellery of the Victorian and Georgian eras. Locks which began with one piece is now an entire collection, designed to be worn in infinite ways and used as “jewel tools” with individuals’ own collections. Aaron revealed: “Once I realised that I could both replicate the functionality of a hardware store carabiner and morph the shape of it in myriad ways, the collection became a reality.”
Acknowledged that the functionality and convertibility of Locks strike an emotional chord with customers as they can personalise those locks with pieces from their beloved treasures, Aaron expanded beyond Locks to Di Me Series of rings and bracelets that hold engraved messages and The Earring Project, stackable and convertible. “The way any and every woman wears jewellery from wherever they are inspires me deeply. My goal is to design jewellery that becomes part of how a woman presents herself to the world,” she expressed.
Jewellery, to Marla Aaron, is the most emotional item. It is always the emotion that is expressed through her designs, no matter it is derived from the young woman at the local hardware store who has her wrists jam-packed with colourful bands, or women who must wear uniforms for their work, wearing jewellery in personal ways to define themselves.
As a small brand, Aaron is pleased about its world presence. Besides the strong online business, she sells jewellery across the United States, the Middle East, Asia and Europe in selected stores. Looking into the future, Marla Aaron’s plan is simple: “Be on the lookout for some interesting additions and iterations of our entire collection.”
← Back