Venture Concepts Paper

Venture Concepts Paper

Kathleen Jones

FIN/375

March 2, 2015

Leon Daniel, JR

Venture Concepts Paper

     I have always been intrigued with the concept of recycling and upcycling products from estates, flea markets, and garage sales.  I collect vintage and costume jewelry that I clean and fix.  I also create my own designs from jewelry parts.  In the past I have used the tools that are available and have gotten good reviews on my work.  With the right resources I would like to open a vintage jewelry shop that sells not only vintage jewelry that I have acquired from finds, but jewelry that I have designed myself.  To do this I would need the right equipment, a studio type workshop, an employee with antique and vintage knowledge, an employee with knowledge of the equipment to help with the designing, photographer, website designer, and marketer.

     Having the right tools, such as polishers, mandrels, stone setters, soldering tools, metal formers, files, optical equipment, knives, cutters, drills, hammers, gauges, etc…, would be needed to produce quality work.  

     The jewelry will be sold online through a website with ecommerce created professionally, and will target both men and women interested in remnants from the past and interest in unique low cost statement jewelry.  This could really be of any age from teens to adults.

     As the benchmark company I chose Zale’s Jewelers, they started small with one shop in the 1920’s in Wichita Falls, Texas by Morris and William Zale, and Ben Lipshy.  The shop was opened offering customer’s quality merchandise at the lowest possible price.  Zale’s started with a marketing strategy that allowed customers credit with a penny down and a dollar a week.  This marketing strategy of offering a higher priced product to everyone at a price they could afford proved to be successful along with their friendly customer service.  The success of the credit policy led to the company expanding to a 12 more stores in Oklahoma and Texas by 1941.  In 1957 Zale’s Jewelers opened their first store in a shopping mall.  Their online shopping was introduced in 1998