Background:

The Touch began over 30 years ago in a basement studio outside Boston, Massachusetts. Offering a wide range of jewelry designs contemporary and classic, simple and ornate; The Touch takes pride in the fact that everything they sell is made in America.  Their goal is to produce the best quality jewelry and provide the highest level of customer service available.    The Touch jewelry is found at fine jewelry stores and galleries across the United States.

Challenge:

The Touch employs six independent sales reps who travel with sample bags containing high end jewelry.  Because the bags have a value of $40k - $75k the sales reps are potential target for robbery. In the past ten years the robberies and the level of violence against the reps have also accelerated.   Aside from the security issue the bags themselves are heavy to transport and time consuming to set up.  The Touch approached Jargon Software with the idea of developing a digital catalogue of sample products that could be made available on their laptops.  This sample catalogue together with a smaller shoulder bag of samples would be the future for their sales reps.

Solution:

Jargon Software developed a digital catalogue for The Touch that reduced the total number of samples that the sales reps transported by 80% (1,000 sku’s down to 200).  Since many of the sku’s come in multiple options the reps can now show the product with various stone settings and type of metal for their customer to view.  Additionally, the price can be calculated immediately because the system contains a daily update on pricing. 

Results:

The Touch can now offer greater security for their sales reps through a digital catalogue.  They have also been able to decrease their insurance costs and increase their productivity by reducing the time spent on set-up and transport.  For the sale reps they have gained greater credibility with their customer due to decreases in pricing errors and orders and the ability to have information and examples at their finger tips.  There is also a belief that order sizes are increasing since no momentum or attention is lost due to delays in the ordering process.

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