Michigan Chapter: Fall Social Featuring Peter Smith

Retail is changing at a ballistic pace. We’ve seen thousands of jewelers close their doors in recent years and amidst the chaos it is hard to know what to do. Are brick and mortar stores losing relevance? Do Millennials care about jewelry? How can you compete with online stores? Is jewelry itself, waning as an aspirational entity? In this session, Smith will speak to these questions and offer his very candid views on what retail jewelers need to do to get and/or remain relevant for the near and long-term future.

Smith is an industry veteran with more than 30 years of experience in retail and wholesale jewelry. The Irish native is the author of two books: “Hiring Squirrels, 12-Essential Interview Questions to Uncover Great Retail Sales Talent” and “Sell Something, Principles and Perspectives for Engaged Retail Salespeople.” He is also a columnist for National Jeweler, where he writes about the retail experience, including hiring sales personnel and branding, and a contributing columnist for The Jewelry Book and World Diamond Magazine. His column on the “Future of Retail Stores” was named one of the best articles of 2016 by National Jeweler and JCK Online.

Smith is president of VIBHOR, a U.S. manufacturer of high-quality, private-label core diamond essentials. He previously spent 11 years as executive vice president of Hearts on Fire and eight years in sales and operations management with Tiffany & Co. He has a BA from Boston College and he is a graduate of the Key Executives Program at the Harvard Business School. Smith is a frequent speaker at industry events.