NetFlorist brings on the bling with new sister site, NetJewel

Johannesburg, September 30, 2011 – NetFlorist, South Africa's largest flower and gifting service, is solidifying its extensive online presence with the launch of its second sister site, NetJewel later this month. The new site, www.netjewel.co.za, has been established in partnership with NWJ Jewellers, making this popular retail jeweller's range available online.

The launch of NetJewel comes just less than a year after the successful introduction of NetGifts, home to NetFlorist's range of over 450 gifts. Since its inception, NetGifts has attracted over 16 500 customers and the number of orders placed on the site so far exceeds 35 000.

NWJ has entered into a two-year exclusive relationship with NetFlorist. According to Managing Director and founder of the NetFlorist Group, Ryan Bacher, the choice of NWJ as the sole supplier to NetJewel was based on a number of factors:
"NWJ has one of the country's widest ranges of jewellery as well as a national footprint of over 80 NWJ stores, which simplifies the exchange and resizing of online orders. With NetJewel, we are bringing together the impeccable quality and extensive range of NWJ with the convenience of delivery anywhere in South Africa," he said.

"Jewellery is also a very popular gifting choice, giving this product line many synergies with NetGifts," Bacher said adding that, internationally, jewellery is a successful product category to sell online.

International online jewellery giant, www.bluenile.com, for example, has grown to become the world's largest online jewellery retailer by far since its establishment in 1999 and recently recorded a 40.7 percent growth in sales, to $12.8 million, in its second financial quarter results.

NWJ is keen to make its presence felt online. "NetFlorist and NetGifts are trusted, recognised brands with an established database of customers," said Bernie Madden, Marketing Manager for NWJ.

"The partnership presents the ideal opportunity to expand our existing offering to customers and make affordable, quality jewellery easily available to those who prefer to shop online or were previously not able to access our existing stores."

Madden added that she believes the online offering and the fact that that the products can be delivered to customers anywhere in South Africa, will attract new customers to NWJ.

"This is especially true for customers who are too busy and pressed for time to visit a store but have a special occasion that they wish to purchase a treasured gift for," she said.

From humble beginnings in 1983, NWJ has become one of the fastest growing retail jewellery chains in Southern Africa. Thanks to its emphasis on customer service, NWJ has been voted the "best place to buy jewellery" in the Daily News Readers' Choice survey for the past eight years.

NWJ's business model includes a manufacturing division, meaning that NWJ is able to skilfully craft its own jewellery and bring it direct to the public. This represents huge savings for customers and also means NWJ never has to compromise the quality of its jewellery, to keep its prices affordable."

"We are confident that NetJewel will attract a large clientele. Our range of jewellery on the NetGifts site has always proven popular and just as clients quickly adapted to using the NetGifts site for gift shopping, we expect them to move easily to NetJewel for jewellery. All three sites are fully integrated, making moving to different product categories very easy," Bacher added.

NetJewel will stock a selected range of NWJ's merchandise, comprising largely of NWJ's best sellers and also its current promotional offers. Watches from top designer brands, including Guess, Seiko, Citizen, Puma, Tomato, Sterling and Latan will be available through NWJ on the NetJewel site. And although customers will be shopping on www.netjewel.co.za rather than at NWJ stores, customers will still enjoy NWJ's value offering of savings of 35 percent on jewellery and selected watches.

To browse through the range, visit www.netjewel.co.za