Precious minds.

[su_highlight background="#63A498" color="#FFFFFF"]MARKET[/su_highlight] Conversation with Gabriele Aprea, President of the Goldsmiths' Club (Club degli Orafi).

Club degli Orafi: what is it and what role does it play?

Gabriele Aprea

It is a place to network and develop strategies for growth and internationalization dedicated to the entire  supply chain. Our policy is to select the best companies not in terms of turnover, but in terms of what they can contribute in the way of ideas and content.  We have created an elite, not according to the size of the business, but on competences.

What challenges do your members face?

Today the small producer faces competition from foreign products and must make a quantum leap to emerge and be heard, or resign themselves to the idea that the consumer will buy in Asia. Being produced in Italy is no longer enough today, its necessary to invest in added value. Take a look at  automotives: Marchionne knows that, in order to keep employment in Italy, it cannot manufacture the Tipo or Cinquecento, it would not make any sense.  Instead, in Italy Marchionne constructs the Jeep, Giulia, Maserati and Ferrari, ie the products  with higher added value. How the product is perceived by the market must be understood, because if an Italian and an Asian product are perceived in the same way, yet the Asian one costs 30% less, the jeweller will opt for the latter.

What activities do you have in the pipeline?

From here to the end of the year,  we have three free workshops focused on retail, "Milano Retail Tour", "Gioielleria 2.0" and "Emotional Customer Experience" (info and details visit www.clubdegliorafi.org). Next year we will start with other seminars dedicated to all components of the supply chain.

C.F.