Author Archive

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Trends from JCK Las Vegas: Pacific Beads

September 10, 2011
Ari Mahller at JCK

Ari Mahller at JCK

We catch up with Ari Mahller, Founder and President of West Coast Jewelryon the show floor at JCK Las Vegas, the largest jewelry trade show in the United States.

Ari talks about the continued popularity of sterling silver and glass beads such as Pandora, Chamilia, Troll Beads as well as West Coast Jewelry’s own Pacific Beads Collection.

West Coast Jewelry’s Pacific Beads collection launched early 2010 with 2 distinct and unique glass bead collections, the Pacific 925, and Pacific Coastal Collections.  Additionally, the Pacific CrystalBeads Collection adds some bling to each unique bracelet or necklace created.

Pacific 925 Bead

Pacific 925 Bead

The Pacific Beads 925 collection was created to offer a comparable product to the name brand designer bead collections at a fraction of the price.  The Pacific 925 beads are sold individually and each features a solid 925 sterling silver core, stamped with the “PACIFIC” brand twice on one side, and stamped “PACIFIC 925″ on the other.  With 100 distinct colors offered in the Pacific 925 collection, every bracelet or necklace will be a unique masterpiece.

Pacific Coastal Bead

Pacific Coastal Bead

The Pacific Beads Coastal Collection is our more affordable alternative.  Featuring an almost overpowering 300 glass bead designs, the Pacific Coastal Collection spans the color palette from vivid pinks and blues to calming greens and golds.  Sold in 3 packs, the Coastal Collection offers the most flexibility and affordability of any branded bead collection on the market.  The glass beads are capped with a sterling silver plated alloy core, which is how such striking glass beads are available at a fraction of the cost of other sterling silver beads.

Pacific Crystal Bead

Pacific Crystal Bead

The Pacific Crystal Collection feature colorful designs that can be used in conjunction with either the Pacific 925 or Pacific Coastal collections. Sold individually, the Pacific Crystals are created from silver plated alloy as well making them much more affordable than similar beads from other brands.

Below are a few samples of bracelets created from the Coastal Collection Beads and sold by West Coast Jewelry as “Coastal Creations” ranging in price from $39.95 and up for complete bracelets.  Considering that other brands often sell a single bead for that price, the Pacific Beads Coastal Collection is an affordable luxury sure to impress!

Pacific Beads

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I am West Coast Jewelry!

November 12, 2010
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Poor Alternatives? I think Not!

May 19, 2010

I recently came across an article in the February 2010 Instore Magazine titled “Poor Alternatives“, talking about all the reasons why alternative metals are a poor choice for wedding bands.  Instore is a magazine that caters to retail jewelry stores, so you could forgive the writer’s ulterior motives, as he is the president of a company selling Gold and Platinum wedding bands to those very retailers.  It’s almost like a Ford Salesman telling you “Chevys are crap!”  You have to take it with a grain of salt.

In his article the author writes, “When did it become cool to wear a non-precious metal on your finger for a wedding band?”  In case he’s been asleep for the last few years from the lack of phones ringing in his office as his sales of gold and platinum rings dwindled, it’s been “cool” for quite some time now.  No, this is no trend you’re looking at, it’s a new reality for all jewelry buyers, not just young people, not just cool people and not just frugal people.

Alternative metals are now widely accepted as wedding rings by many people.  (I will write future blogs on two types of customers we see regularly shopping with us, the post recession consumer and Mr. Tough Guy.)

Gold Plated Stainless Steel Ring with CZ

Gold Plated Steel Ring with CZ for $14.95

The author writes, “You mean I can now buy a 6 mm wedding band for $14.95 in a metal that is on the bottom of the periodic table…” and then goes on to comment, “it’s always a surprise to these young couples when they want to sell their alternative metal wedding band for scrap.”  Really?  You think the young people who paid $14.95 for a stainless steel band expect to get “precious metal” money for it when they trade it in?  If they know what they paid for it in the first place, they obviously know its value.  As in all jewelry, there is a ratio of precious elements whether its gold, platinum or diamonds, to labor.  With diamond engagement rings it’s typically 90% materials and 10% labor.  It’s pretty obvious to everyone involved that the $14.95 ring you speak of, 95% of it is labor, and 5% is shipping it here from China.

There is no delusion that alternative metals are just that, an alternative to the traditional metals of gold and platinum.  And why shouldn’t today’s customers be concerned with controlling spending and perhaps even saving a little bit when they can?  The point made above jokes that alternative metals wedding bands are “on the bottom of the periodic table of elements,” so does that mean I love my wife less or does she love me less because I wanted a Tungsten Carbide Wedding Band from West Coast Jewelry on my finger?  What does gold say about love anyways that tungsten can’t?

Perhaps a better title for their article would have been, “Poor Jewelers, Customers have plenty of Alternatives!”

Ari

-Ari

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The Joys of Online Holiday Shopping!

December 9, 2009

After leaving the office last night, I stopped by a major retail store to purchase a doggy bed for my 5 month old Goldendoodle Monty, who I’m worried is starting to get chilly at night (I know, he has fur!).  While standing in line for over half an hour along with other frustrated consumers, and as we watched several drop out of the line and just go home without making their purchase, I decided it would be a great blog to discuss the great benefits of online holiday shopping with West Coast Jewelry!

Benefit #1:  Large Selection

Have you ever gone to a store because something specific was advertised, only to find out that its gone?  Not only was it gone, they only had 5 to begin with!  I’m not even talking about crazy Black Friday camping all night in front of the store promotions, I’m talking about regularly advertised items.  Well I was disappointed last night to see 2 things I saw advertised were out, one gone completely and the other was just left because it was the display model.

At West Coast Jewelry, we have over 60,000 awesome items from sterling silver jewelry, gold jewelry, titanium tungsten and stainless steel metal jewelry for men and women.  We have gemstones, we have a large selection of brand name Murano Glass jewelry and even fashion diamond items as well.  We update our inventory with current stock on a daily basis, and work hard to make sure that what you order, we have in stock ready to ship!

Benefit #2: Clear Pricing and Savings

How many times have you gotten close to the front of a long line while doing your holiday shopping, only to hear “Price check on lane 2, price check!”  And then your heart sinks as someone comes from the back of the store, grabs the item, goes back to the shelf where it was sold only to find that none of the items are marked with prices, and then returns with some arbitrary code written on their hand?  And in the meantime the line next to you, the one with the slow checker who you thought was not a safe bet, has now helped 5 more customers and you would have been out of the store by now?

At WestCoastJewelry.com Prices and Savings are ALWAYS clear and visible.  Never worry about not knowing what something costs, or worry about dragging it to the front of the store only to realize its ridiculously over priced!  What you see is what you pay! (unless of course you’re a Blue Pouch VIP Member and have additional great discounts!)

Benefit #3: Easy & FREE shipping

I’ve shopped online most of my adult life.  People always ask me, “doesn’t the shipping make it a waste to buy online?”  “wouldn’t you rather buy in a store where you can see the product you’re buying?”  What they didn’t realize, is that by shopping online you can actually save quite a bit since online stores have lower overhead. When you deal with a retailer you can trust like West Coast Jewelry, with years of experience and hundreds of thousands of satisfied customers, you know you’ll be taken care of even if you aren’t happy with the item once it arrives.

From November through December 27th we’re offering FREE STANDARD SHIPPING on ALL ORDERS to ANY U.S. ADDRESS!  Not only can you buy gifts for your friends and family in town, you can even purchase gifts for out of town relatives and friends and let us do all the work!  We never ship packing slips with prices, so you don’t have to worry about them finding out what you paid.  Simply add their address to your profile when checking out, and we’ll ship them your gift for you in one of our signature blue pouches.

Benefit #4: No waiting for other people

Ever find yourself peeking into other people’s shopping carts to see what’s underneath that big item, just to try to predict how long it will take them to check out?  Ever find yourself scanning the check-out people to see which one seems to be the most competent and skillful?

We’re integrated with Amazon.com so you can use your existing Amazon account and address book to pay for your purchase with us, no need to set up a new account, no need to resubmit any payment information, its all saved and secured by Amazon’s servers so you can be confident when you shop with West Coast Jewelry!  You’re in and you’re out, just that simple!

Benefit #5: The more you buy the more we love you!

As I was standing in line wondering how to explain to my wife that I was an hour late coming home because of this line, and wondering if she would believe me, a glimmer of hope emerged!  Another lane was opening, the blood rushed to my head and I could barely hold in my joy, until the checker shouted, “anyone with 10 items or less I can help!”.  10 items or less?  Boy was this the wrong day to buy 12 items.  Before I could eliminate any 2 items from my cart, that line filled up, and the whole process became even more frustrating as people with only a handful of items got to join the new line.

At West Coast Jewelry, we’ll NEVER penalize you for wanting to buy more!  In fact, we’ll reward you for it!  With our new FREE ITEM WITH PURCHASE ongoing promotion, if you spend more, you can get even nicer free gifts!  Not only that, if your order is over $100, we’ll upgraded you to Expedited shipping for FREE!

Benefit #6: The dreaded day after Christmas Return Line!

Of all the gifts given and received around the holidays, surely many will make their way back to the stores, different sizes, different colors, did Grandma REALLY think I wanted THAT!?  The last place you want to be during the holidays is waiting for hours in line to process your return or exchange, or have to worry about gift receipts or receipts at all for that matter, don’t you have more important things to worry about, like New Years parties?

West Coast Jewelry makes returns and exchanges easy.  We offer free exchanges on rings that don’t fit, or any other item if you decide not to keep it.  Returns and refunds are processed the same day, just pop it in the mail and we’ll take care of the rest!  Your original payment method will be credited the refund amount, and you can spend some quality time with your family instead of in the stores.  Not only is our 30 day return and exchange policy easy to use, as a special consideration to our customers, ALL items purchased in December can be returned through the end of January!  No need to rush if you’re on vacation or busy with your family, we understand that your purchases are given on Christmas and we’ll be happy to help with your return and exchange when you get to it.

With so many reasons to shop with West Coast Jewelry this holiday season, why not start shopping now?

Happy Holidays to you and yours,

Sincerely,

- Ari Mahller

President, WCJ

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West Coast Jewelry Goes Pink!

October 9, 2009

West Coast Jewelry goes pink

Join West Coast Jewelry as we support Breast Cancer Research!

You may have already noticed that our website has been looking a little different lately.  In case you didn’t notice… we’ve gone pink for the month of October!

In honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, West Coast Jewelry is proud to support Breast Cancer Research by donating 1 dollar from every order, placed now through the end of October, towards the research for finding the cure for breast cancer. West Coast Jewelry offers many chic Pink Ribbon items for you to wear and show your support in the fight against breast cancer!

Only $17.95!

Only $17.95!

Only $11.95!

Only $11.95!

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Life at West Coast Jewelry

August 17, 2009

What a beautiful summer it has been, and we’re enjoying every moment of Southern California sunshine!  We wanted to take a few minutes out of our busy day to stop and share what we’ve been doing here at West Coast Jewelry, and to let you know what we are looking forward to in the near future.

Stainless Steel Double Cross With Black And Gold Plating

Stainless Steel Double Cross With Black And Gold Plating

In the past few months we have added a wide variety of many exciting new items.  We have expanded our stainless steel pendant and stainless steel ring collections which include very affordable, modern designs.  We have been working hard to introduce brand new, never before seen tungsten ring designs.  Be on the lookout for our new tungsten additions in the coming weeks!

We are also very excited about the growth of our product videos, and now feature nearly 200 different items with videos.  You can see all of our videos at our youtube page here: YouTube.

Well it’s back to work here at WCJ, so we’ll leave you with this thought:

“The best way to cheer yourself up is to try to cheer somebody else up.”   Mark Twain

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More mommy reviews and giveaways

June 8, 2009

June has already been a crazy month with giveaways ending and new ones beginning.  We are very excited about our new social marketing program and our affiliate bloggers have been amazing to work with.  Social Marketing director Alon Mahller says, “The feedback we have been receiving from our customers about the detailed reviews and giveaways has been outstanding.”

ShopaholicMommy.com – Win a FREE Freshwater pearl necklace from shopaholicmommy.com. Sandy’s extensive and detailed reviews are one of a kind.  Hurry up and head over to her blog to enter to win a your very own pearl necklace today.  Ends 6/17/09

shopaholicmommy.com

APsychMommy.com - Congratulations to Vicki Wurgler of Fargo, ND.  She won a beautiful Cultured Freshwater Pearl and Smoky Quartz Necklace! Shari from Apsychmommy has been a pleasure to work with and we can’t wait to do another review shortly.  Be sure to visit her site for some amazing giveaways and great blog articles.

psychmommy

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WCJ Teams Up With Blogging Moms!

June 3, 2009

West Coast Jewelry is working hard to give our customers the most in depth product information available.  By having our affiliate bloggers give their honest reviews and opinions on our jewelry, you don’t just have to take our word for the quality of our products.

Kristy from Mommy in pink received our Rhodium Plated Open Floating Heart Slide to review.

Rhodium Plated Open Floating Heart Slide

Rhodium Plated Open Floating Heart Slide

” I was looking for a simple pendant to wear out and about, that will compliment my outfits casual or dressy. That’s why I chose this particular pendant, and I’m so happy I did, because it’s lightweight, simple and stylish. Packaged in a satin lined reversible jewelry travel pouch, this makes for one incredible gift,” says Kristy.

Mommy in Pink WCJ Giveaway

We can’t wait to work with Kristy again in the future, and can’t stop reading her blog!

Be on the lookout for more reviews and giveaways from West Coast Jewelry’s affiliate bloggers!




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WestCoastJewelry.com Features NEW Product Videos & Related Items

May 13, 2009

West Coast Jewelry is adding product videos by popular demand!  With the WestCoastJewelry channel on YouTube, you can view our entire video collection currently available.  Videos will be added daily featuring some of our hottest products with 360 degree views for an enhanced online shopping experience.

WCJ-TU872 in this video above is one of our most popular tungsten carbide rings, and is now viewable in angles previously unavailble to our customers.  Our goal is to grow our video collection to the thousands to make sure our customers have all the information on our products to make informed buying decisions.

Marcasite Hoop Earrings

30 MM Plain Marcasite Hoop Earrings

West Coast Jewelry is also further enhancing the customer experience by presenting related items and similar items to customers on items such as WCJ-TU800 and SLX-MME039.

“Our customers have style and like options,” says West Coast Jewelry President Ari Mahller. “‘We see consumers purchasing multiple items from the same collections, whether matching earrings and pendants or a ring and bracelet set.  We want customers to see all the possibilities and combinations of jewelry to make informed buying decisions.  Even if a customer isn’t able to buy all the pieces today, we’re helping build the Christmas wish list!”

Currently hundreds of items on WestCoastJewelry.com feature related product suggestions, with more being added daily by our style team.

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TitaniumBridal.com Highlights Titanium Jewelry Collection from West Coast Jewelry

February 6, 2009

West Coast Jewelry is pleased to announce the release of a new website targeted to titanium ring shoppers, TitaniumBridal.com!  While all of the products offered through TitaniumBridal.com are also available through both WestCoastJewelry.com and Amazon.com, Titanium Bridal will offer shoppers a more niche shopping experience.

TitaniumBridal.com

TitaniumBridal.com

“The current economic situation is pushing many bridal shoppers to look for less expensive wedding bands,” says President, Ari Mahller.  “This category has been male and fashion dominated for the last few years, but we’re seeing more and more couples shopping for matching titanium wedding bands.”  TitaniumBridal.com currently features over 300 of the titanium ring designs offered from West Coast Jewelry, with dozens more on the way including a specific “His&Hers” line which will offer multiple versions of identical rings for couples to choose from.

“We don’t want women to settle for titanium rings that were designed for a man,” adds Mahller.  “The new collection features some classic, elegant and narrower designs, so that couples will be able to feel a connection to one another through their jewelry.”

The TitaniumBridal.com site offers more drill down categorization to help customers find the type of ring they are looking for with as few clicks as possible.  With prices significantly lower than other leading online titanium retailers, this new website will highlight West Coast Jewelry’s solid collection of men’s and women’s titanium rings.

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