EQC Begins Membership Drive
May 17, 11(IDEX Online News) - The European Quality Circle (EQC), a European marketing and consumer-oriented organization, has begun its first membership drive among jewelry European retailers, EQC announced. The firm aims to provide jewelers and jewelry retailers with a portfolio of professional and education services.
The EQC membership package includes access to EQC’s diamonds, gemstones and finished jewelry buyer group as well as EQC's business and management training courses. "Sourcing diamonds, gems and jewelry has become a very difficult and high risk task in our industry,” EQC Director Eyal Atzmon said. “The bundling of jewelry retailers into a buyer group offers them added strength and position in negotiations with gem and jewelry suppliers.”
EQC's Courses on diamond and gem identification are held with HRD Antwerp NV. Other courses EQC offers cover topics such as merchandising & product management; human resources management & recruitment; communications strategies; building action plans; individual mentoring; how to hold successful team meetings; customer relations management; building vendor displays; and the art of negotiation.
EQC members will soon have the ability to access the diamond inventory of IDEX Online, the industry's leading online polished diamond exchange. "Last year, IDEX Online and EQC signed a cooperative agreement that will give EQC members exclusive access to IDEX Online’s diamond inventory. We expect to have this service available within the next few weeks," Atzmon stated.
"Currently, we are processing close to 200 membership applications from jewelry retailers worldwide, among them prominent jewelry retail chains as well as independent jewelers," Atzmon noted. "While during the past 12 months we already have run a number of pilot jewelry business and sales training programs, we're now ready to offer these programs as part of the EQC membership package," he said.