Engagements and weddings are big business — and a big expense for millions of Americans. According to The Knot’s 2023 Jewelry and Engagement Study, couples spend an average of $5,500 on an engagement ring. And if you’ve ever shopped for an engagement ring, you know that there are tons of companies vying for your engagement ring dollars… A smart, data-driven company might look to target couples at the exact moment they’re ready to buy a ring. And that’s exactly what Gina Drosos, CEO of Signet Jewelers, did.
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You might say that Gina Drosos has those pivotal moments that lead couples to get engaged down to a science. Six years ago, when she stepped into the role of CEO at Signet, the world’s largest diamond retailer, she dove into all the data she could find around love. “We identified 45 trackable milestones that we can separate into four different phases of dating,” Drosos says, “And there are certain milestones that happen sooner than others. For example, you often meet each other’s friends before you meet each other’s families. You frequently go to a concert or a sporting event together before you go on a romantic trip together. What we found is that once a couple has experienced 25 to 30 of these milestones, they are statistically significantly more likely to get engaged.” Signet then uses these milestones to send targeted campaigns based on what couples may be looking for at a certain point in their relationship.
Genius, right? We aren’t the only ones who think so. Drosos has been credited with pulling America’s largest jeweler out of a long slump. Signet sales hit $7.8 billion in 2021 — up 50% from pandemic lows — to reach a new record. Drosos says she likes to think of herself as a “spider-web leader,” whose leadership empowers employees in all directions, as opposed to a traditional hub-and-spoke leader, where everything has to come to her for a decision to then go back out. She puts this philosophy into practice by putting boots-on-the-ground, visiting jewelry stores around the world and learning what they need. Whether it’s more inventory or a higher resolution display screen, she then implements those changes throughout the business so that everyone wins.
Gina Drosos has always looked to uplift other women throughout her career, and says that women in leadership positions have a responsibility to elevate others. “It’s not enough to be successful yourself; it’s important that you create a pathway for success for women who come behind you. It still is difficult for women in positions of power and we have to be kind to each other. We have to lift as we climb.”
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