And a slow month, and a slow year.

I don’t think I am wrong in saying that this is the quietest period the gemstone market has seen for a long time. Look around the JTC Tower in Silom Road and every day there seem to be more empty shops and booths. Reports from the Hong Kong and Bangkok gem shows describe them as having the lowest levels of customer traffic anyone can remember.

But is that a bad thing? Every industry has its cycles. It is certainly bad for businesses used to, and relying on, higher sales volumes to meet overheads. And those that are leveraged, well, as someone said recently (me in the first paragraph) “every day there seem to be more empty shops and booths”.

So of course it’s bad, why even ask. While it is sad to see businesses closing down, and imagining the human cost of that, those that remain will be leaner, stronger and better for the experience. Business owners now have time to pay attention to their business processes. There is time to take a breath and look at all the ways social media can be leveraged. Things that work can be improved and refined and things that don’t can be abandoned with confidence.

What’s more, employees can be trained up, especially sales people. In a busy market, anyone who holds out a product can be a good sales person, but in a slow market like this, people with real sales aptitude and, most importantly, tenacity, will shine.

For buyers though, there is an overwhelming benefit – a slow market is a buyers market. This is a bonanza for the customer and perhaps the best time in two decades for collectors. There are real bargains for both wholesale and retail. Cashed up wholesale buyers looking to build inventory have the best of it at the moment.

If you are interested in wholesale Gold Sheen Sapphire or Ruby, please follow the link to the Wholesale section of my website. For collectors and bargain hunters, check out the ruby, aquamarine and gold sheen sapphire here http://sjwgems.com/product-category/gemstones/.

Which, if I recall correctly was the name of a Queen song on the ‘A Night at the Opera’ album. What’s that Wikipedia, it was? Yes. Thank you.

From Sunday morning through to just now at 6:30 I have been updating the SJW Gems website with some new features. First, there is multi currency. It is really more a convenience for customers than a ‘must have’. All the product prices are in US dollars, and anyone buying will have the conversion done automatically by their credit card company.

Nevertheless, the customer can now select their currency from a drop down menu and it will update the prices in real time. Neat.

Second is a coupon feature for social media. Anyone who ‘likes’ on Facebook or follows onTwitter will get a coupon code for 10% discount off their order.

Not exactly lazing, but a productive way to spend a slow day.