When Maryland’s Governor ordered all non-essential businesses closed, Zachary’s Jewelers had a problem on their hands. There was no way to argue the essential nature of jewelry; and more importantly to Steve Samaras, Zachary’s owner, he did not want to put his employees or customers in danger. So, closed they did. In the middle of the largest sale they ever planned.
For any business so focused on the personal customer experience, this would be devastating. But Steve brought his team together and figured out a perfect way to keep things moving, and more importantly keep his employees working.
Online Sales.
Online sales is not a new concept by any means, but fine jewelry tend to not be a commodity. Much of their sales are indeed custom designed pieces. But rather than putting an online e-commerce aspect to their existing site, Zachary’s re-imagined it.
As COO Constance Polamalu said, “we had to bring the Zachary’s way to online.”
And it doesn’t end with an online chat. Zachary’s has made sure that each employee can handle virtual appointments online via Zoom. A customer can video chat and show inspiration to a member of the team and work from there. For custom work, they will send the inspiration to their sketch artist to start bringing the idea to life for the client.
“Sure, we would prefer to be working face to face, but the safety of our customers and staff is most important,” said Samaras. “On the other side of this, we are going to come out stronger. Our online project had been planned for a while, and now is the perfect opportunity to execute it.”
Steve is a life-long Annapolitan and has a very unique love for the area. And while his business is moving along online, he has taken it upon himself to explain why he love’s Annapolis so much with a series of videos on his personal Facebook page called One Love Annapolis!
Steve and his wife Challie have been visiting businesses and spaces that have meaning to them. Many are locally owned businesses that they support and others are just places and vistas that have meaning.
If you have an affinity for Annapolis, take a few minutes to watch these videos–each is only a few minutes long and has some insight that only a life-long resident can 0ffer.
1 LOVE ANNAPOLIS — STEVE SAMARAS
To check out the new way of doing business with Zachary’s Jewelers, please visit zacharysjewelers.com
A few days ago, we spoke with Steve and Constance about the pivot in their business plan as well as Steve’s 1 Love Annapolis videos. Please have a listen!
