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TheBuzz Erika Engle |
Hilo Hattie dives in
with new jeweler
The two-year relationship between Hilo Hattie and Maui Divers of Hawaii Ltd. is unique among Hawaii retailers, according to Paul deVille, chief executive officer of Hilo Hattie parent company Pomare Ltd.
Beyond Hilo Hattie carrying merchandise from Maui Divers as a vendor, the latter has store-within-a-store concessions in 10 Hilo Hattie stores -- for now.
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Maui Divers' first stand-alone store, at Ala Moana Center, will open Oct. 1. Its No. 45 retail location comes as the company celebrates 45 years in business, doing business as Maui Divers Jewelry, Island Pearls and Pick-A-Pearl.
However, when Hilo Hattie expands to San Diego in the spring, opening a 5,000-square-foot store in the Gaslamp district, Maui Divers' No. 46 space will take up 500 square feet of it.
The partnership picked up where a relationship between Hilo Hattie and the Sultan Co. left off. Sultan operates 60 retail jewelry locations across the country, doing business as Na Hoku and The Pearl Factory and has a manufacturing operation in Hawaii.
"They were fantastic," deVille said. "The switch had nothing to do with Sultan at all. They were a fantastic vendor of ours."
"We felt we were more aligned with Maui Divers with respect to our view of the world ... we both shared a philosophy that marketing was of extreme importance. We are both very strong marketing companies, so we thought and agreed that we could join forces and do a lot in terms of cross-promotion and joint marketing with them."
Maui Divers and Hilo Hattie officials had discussed the possibility of the former becoming a concessionaire in one or more Hilo Hattie stores for a couple years, said Bob Taylor, Maui Divers president.
The experimental placement of a Maui Divers concession in Hilo's Hilo Hattie store in 2002 convinced both retailers they'd made the right decision.
"It increased the sales so much that they immediately wanted us to take over the jewelry concessions in all their stores," said Taylor.
Neither Taylor nor deVille disclosed sales figures, but Taylor said the dramatic increase was not simply due to high jewelry prices.
"I think we definitely have the strongest local jewelry brand.
"I think we have the best sales force in the islands, if not the U.S. and whenever we've replaced another operator we've always substantially increased the sales."
Maui Divers' prices range from $35 for earrings and toe rings to $35,000 for strands of Tahitian black pearls.
"We've had single strands that are more than that."
Taylor echoes deVille's assessment that the two companies are strong marketers.
"By putting the brands together we've created real synergy. For example, we are probably the two largest retailers to the cruise ship customers."
It's more than just slapping some ads in visitor publications.
"We have very strong programs with all the cruise ship companies we work with," said Taylor. The two have arrangements with travel agents, transportation companies, attractions and other businesses to drive traffic into the stores.
Each company's advertising cross-promotes the other.
"When we are advertising, we're advertising very often with the Maui Divers brand included and they do the same, so we're really almost doubling up on our ad campaigns. They will list their locations -- those locations include our Hilo Hattie stores, so we leverage off each other's ad and marketing budgets. That's a powerful tool," said deVille.
Hilo Hattie's locations in Hawaii and the mainland and Maui Divers' stores within them are the beneficiaries of the leveraging.
"We really value the partnership that we have with them and it is our complete intention to make them part of every expansion opportunity that comes along," said deVille.
Taylor agrees the relationship has been great "in every way.
"We should have done it years ago."