Tiffany & Co was one of the first companies to introduce fixed pricing. Then became the luxury brand of New York.

Dave Young:

Welcome to the Empire Builders Podcast, teaching business owners the not so secret techniques that took famous businesses from mom-and-pop to major brands. Stephen Semple is a marketing consultant, story collector and storyteller. I’m Stephen’s sidekick and business partner, Dave Young. Before we get into today’s episode, a word from our sponsor, which is, well, it’s us, but we’re highlighting ads we’ve written and produced for our clients, so here’s one of those.

[Maven Roofing Ad]

Dave Young:

Welcome back to the Empire Builders Podcast. Stephen Semple is right there. I’m Dave Young and we’re talking about empires. We’re talking about the businesses that started small and grew into empires. And today we’re talking about, man, these guys have been, I mean, a long time ago. I don’t know. I’m anxious to know the history because I don’t know the history.

Stephen Semple:

1837.

Dave Young:

1837. And I’m trying to think if I’ve ever been in one of their stores. Maybe. I’ve walked by a couple of them.

Stephen Semple:

Yes.

Dave Young:

We’re talking about Tiffany & Co. So that one, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, the little blue box, all of that.

Stephen Semple:

All of that. Well, and here’s the thing I’m going to say. Anytime I’m in a mall or somewhere that has a Tiffany’s, I always go and take a look at the display windows. And I cannot tell you how many photographs I have of Tiffany’s display windows. Tiffany’s display windows.

Dave Young:

I have walked by Tiffany’s. Yeah, yeah.

Stephen Semple:

Tiffany display windows are the best in the business. No one does it better. I will go out of my way to go see one. I probably have got 50 pictures in my phone of Tiffany displays. They’re spectacular. And they update them. Their website, here’s one of the other things that’s crazy. I don’t know how often they update their website, but I continually go back and take a look at their website and it’s almost always completely redone with brand new photography, brand new feature items, brand new stories. But here’s the interesting thing. So they were founded in 1837. Today there are about 300 stores worldwide, 14,000 employees. They do five billion in revenue. A chunk of the company was bought by LVMH back in 2021 at a valuation of $16 billion. Everyone recognizes the Tiffany Blue Box. It’s a part of pop culture. And it’s frankly, probably one of the largest, most recognizable luxury brands on the planet. Did not start out in jewelry.

Dave Young:

Oh, gosh. Oh, gosh. Now I have to guess.

Stephen Semple:

What do you think it started out as?

Dave Young:

Probably not… It was 1837, so it wasn’t cars.

Stephen Semple:

1837.

Dave Young:

No?

Stephen Semple:

No. Nope. They started off selling stationary, paper, ribbons, and small little items.

Dave Young:

Really? I was about to guess watches, but that… No.

Stephen Semple:

Yeah.

Dave Young:

They’d still be making watches if that was the case. Stationary.

Stephen Semple:

Yeah. It was located on Broadway in New York, and it was originally Tiffany, Young and Ellis. And the first day they sold $4.98 worth of stuff.

Dave Young:

Wow, that’s a start.

Stephen Semple:

Yeah.

Dave Young:

Got to start somewhere.

Stephen Semple:

But here’s some of the first bold things that they did. So we got to remember, it’s 1800s and shopping was a negotiation game. Everything was bartered. Okay? What they did, and retailers would argue with you at that time, it was part of the fun, part of the adventure. You can imagine this conversation, right? People like negotiating. They want to feel like they’re getting a deal. Even today, how often do we hear this? They want to feel like they’re getting a deal. And here’s what Tiffany’s did. They said, “Screw that. We’re introducing fixed pricing. No haggling, no exceptions.” And at that time, that was considered crazy.

Now, it’s interesting. Here in Canada, along a similar timeline, company which is no longer around today, but grew to being one of the biggest businesses in Canada was a retailer called Eaton’s, and it was founded by Timothy Eaton. Same thing, fixed pricing. Fixed pricing.

Dave Young:

You know what you’re going to spend. And if you don’t want to spend that, walk away.

Stephen Semple:

They started out right away with, “We’re going to do something different.” Now, they very quickly, after a few years, they very quickly pivoted from stationary to jewelry. Here’s what Charles Tiffany noticed, and it’s a big deal. And before I share this, I want to share part of our marketing approach, because this is where I think there’s a real parallel. We believe as Wizard of Ads Partners that you want to be the company that has thought of first and liked the most. Now, our partner, Gary Bernier, has put a really nice little twist on this that I think really helps people. He likes to ask it this is like the most for, fill in the blank.

Dave Young:

Sure.

Stephen Semple:

And if you can’t fill in that blank and it can’t be 20 thin...