How to choose jewelry store software: 12 questions to ask

A ring, a loose diamond, a parcel of melee and a watch need different information. A loose diamond needs shape, carat, color, clarity and a certificate. Melee is tracked by total carat weight. A watch has a serial number. If the software gives every item the same handful of fields, your staff will start typing details into the description and you will never be able to search or report on them.

A finished ring often has a center stone with its own grading report. Ask whether you can record the stones in a piece and attach the certificate, and whether it can look up a GIA or IGI report by number instead of making you type it in.

Tags are the first thing a customer sees. Ask whether you choose what prints on the tag, and whether it works with the label printer you already own.

Counting the store should mean scanning every piece and getting a list of what is missing or extra, with a chance to review before anything changes. Ask whether you can count one section at a time, not just the whole store at once.

This is where many systems fall short. You want one place that shows every open job, who has it (the bench, a setter, an outside vendor), and when it is due back. Ask how the customer is kept updated and how a job becomes an invoice at pickup.

If you send goods out on memo or take pieces in on consignment, the software has to know what you own, what you are holding for someone else, and what is out of the store. Ask what happens to the paperwork and the payout when a memo piece sells.

Look for trade-ins, layaways, deposits on custom work, gift cards, store credit, and returns and exchanges. Ask how sales tax works for wholesale customers with a resale certificate.

Older systems run on one computer at the counter. Cloud software runs in a web browser, so the same system works on a laptop, an iPad or a phone. Ask what works on a tablet and what needs a computer.

The usual list is accounting (QuickBooks), your website or online store (Shopify), eBay, Rapaport for diamond pricing and listings, and email marketing. Ask whether each connection is built in or needs a third party tool.

Your customer list and sales history are worth years of work. Ask whether the company moves your data from your current system, what comes across, and whether that is included or quoted separately.

Ask who handles support, how you reach them, and whether training is included. A system you cannot get help with is a system your staff will work around.

Ask for the monthly price, how many people can be logged in at once, what extra logins cost, whether there is a setup fee, and how long the contract is.