Blue Nile Inc. Case Study Solved

• How does Blue Nile create trust in buying an expensive item like an engagement ring?

Blue Nile Inc. is one of the leading online traders of diamond rings and they are renowned for the engagement function rings. The company was established, as there was a history of unpleasant shopping experience of an engagement ring. The company has technological advancement in this area as well as personalized inventory and the company provides attracting features for their customers, this makes the customer more satisfied and reliable towards the Blue Nile’s management. The Blue Nile is the dominant diamond traders for expensive diamond segments in the market and the management is pride about their dominant share in the market.

• How does Blue Nile educate potential customers?

The organization provides more exciting feature to its customers which makes the company unique from their competitive companies, the company has features like 30 days return policy, professional evaluation, insurance policy, and grading reports of diamonds. The most ironic factor is that jewels are traditional brought from jewelry shops and the customers obviously have firsthand check before buying the jewels, but the Blue Nile is an online company and it eventually does not have any physical shop. The sales are done through online for the Blue Nile, and also that the customers that follow the traditional way of experiencing the jewels by checking it and wearing is it cannot be achieved. In contrast to the traditional jewelry shop, everything is done through the company’s website and it provides free shipping of jewels as well as return policy to satisfy the customers.

• How does Blue Nile get users to buy expensive diamonds on a mobile device?

The primary strategy attained by the Blue Nile is by two methods, providing free shipping and delivery insurance for the customers, this online ordering has made customers a positive approach towards the company. The additional features allow the people to feel safer about the company and promote online buying, the fact that the diamond rings are expensive and the customer concern for the commodity had been greatly reduced by the insurance policy provided by the company. (Antony Allen, 2008) the customers have reduced risk as they have insurance and the Blue Nile provides the customers quality diamonds to their home. This satisfaction of receiving high quality diamonds in their home as that of jewelry shops. The customers who are forced to buy expensive commodities from shops makes online shops more advanced since the product is received at door step.

Blue Nile has advanced the use of communication technology, the internet as the virtual shop, where customers can visit 24/7 and order their product online and the services and the supports provided by the company more vigilant. The website provided more user friendly and informative. The website provides an ultimate freedom for the customers to check the whole product and buy the product that they like. Additionally, each product has descriptions provided which makes the customers more informative about the product and while comparing with the knowledge and information provided by an average salesman, the descriptions provided through online is more advantageous and useful. So, the information attained through description is more useful for the customers than from a sales clerk.

The website of Blue Nile is a data base of all the collection of diamond ring along with its description. There are several features offered for the customers by the company like browsing the website to find the ring according to the customers’ specification and taste. These feature provides a positive facility of online shopping and also more satisfaction for the customer. (Hopkins, 2010) the most admired feature is the build your own feature provided by the website and is recognized as one of the famous features that increase the class experience of the online shopping. All this features help in buying a customized ring in accordance with their requirement, in which the physical stores cannot provided since, the customer’s choice is limited with the given collection of rings. By providing all the customizing freedom to the customers which has made the Blue Nile management successful in managing customer as a part of designing ring. And this makes customers part of the designing process, this additionally increases the customer satisfaction level as well as the ownership of ring with a strong bond with the ring since, it is designed by the customers.

• How does Blue Nile make the diamond buying process hassle free?

The main concern of the online shopping is that the customers have questions about the delivery period and about the reservations since, the customer has fear about the delivery, moreover the concerns increase since the diamond rings are also very expensive. The Blue Nile management has found drawbacks in online shopping therefore, to increase the customer satisfaction and reliability they have introduced insurance policy and free return policy. Blue Nile accepts their product in return since, most of the product are custom made by the customers and the diamond rings are often not accepted by the diamond sellers.

There are also additional benefits for the Blue Nile’s product over $1000, they provide grading report of diamond, certifications and professional appraisals. Unlike other stores that provide one or two certification, Blue Nile’s provide all the certifications necessary and earn the trust of their customers. Blue Nile is an international diamond trading company and has business over many countries therefore, the company also has international risks.

The major risk of Blue Nile is that being an international company, in some of the countries their business would be at risk since, some of the countries do not have proper internet access hence Blue Nile would risks its market in that country. And another big concern is the global economics and the fluctuating foreign exchanges currency rate, the volatile nature of foreign exchange rates is a huge threat to the Blue Nile which allows customers to buy in 22 different nation’s currency.

 

• How can Blue Nile grow internationally if the Internet is not always available?

Another major threat is the internet security, if a potential security breach in the security of the Blue Nile website can result in huge risk due to the fact that it is an online company and it relies on a internet. The internet connection is another concern if the customer has weak signal, the customer cannot purchase the product as well as if there is any issue with the website of the Blue Nile Company can lead to huge loss. There are nations where expensive diamonds are not quite moving, in developing countries the sales of diamonds is a big concern, and there exists theft and internet fraud. These factors are above the control of the management.

One of the another issue is the delay of the diamonds due to the customs and its legal formalities and policies, the Blue Nile products can be held for longer period due to formalities n customs and the 30 day return policy cannot be made possible to the customers and the company’s credibility loses with the customer dissatisfaction. Therefore the international trading is almost a major concern.

While looking at the future action plans of the Blue Nile, there are possibilities apart from diamonds and jewelry business, the company should take into consideration the increase in the wide range of products and customer preferred commodities, also concentrating on different countries according to the customers’ requirements. Another suggestion is the offering of education virtual school for international students which is a service as well as business which have a huge scope and should be taken into consideration.

6. Can Blue Nile expand its product offerings beyond diamonds and jewelry?

At present, the Blue Nile website provides a platform for the professional level education in the diamond. The diamond certification courses from a well reputed organization like Blue Nile attracts students to study about diamond and its certification. Blue Nile should include more customized options as provide complementary products, setting gifts, gifts wraps for expensive products, and delivery by providing gift wraps can increase customer satisfaction as well as quality service. The Blue Nile should not limits its product range in engagement ring, it should expand to wide product range.

• Is Blue Nile “Stuck in the Middle?”

The major problem of the Blue Nile is that the organization has limited itself only in diamond ring products whereas, its giant competitors like DeBeers or Tiffany’s are successful they have wider segment of product unlike the Blue Nile. While looking at other players in the market like, Overstock and Amazon have made a significant growth in the diamond ring business. These companies provides not only diamond rings but they are major retailers of commodities like books, electronic items, clothes, shoes etc. while Blue Nile is a company that concentrates only in diamond rings, the competitor provide both high and low end products whereas, Blue Nile sells on expensive diamond rings, the Blue Nile has to take crucial decision in increasing the product range like its competitors.

The Blue Nile is any way one of the successful companies of its category, has strength in its business strategies, that made the organization advance from its marketing. There are several features and quality services unlike other companies, which is key features of its own like the shipping policy, return policy, option for customization and 30 days return back, it has provided customer satisfaction in all aspect and has good reputation. But the company also faces several downs like the issues and threats being an international firm and has several competitors of the online industry. The Blue Nile has to take strategic plans to overcome the competitions that the company is facing at present and expand to wide range of commodities.