Uwe Koetter confirms the widely-reported armed robbery incident at their Cape Quarter showroom on Wednesday, 31 July 2019.
“The incident took place at 10:16, when a man dressed in a maroon tracksuit and baseball cap approached the showroom concierge desk. The man proceeded to remove a pistol from under his jacket and forced the concierge to open the doors for three more individuals. The group entered the store and smashed several showcases containing a wide range of jewellery. Fortunately, quick-thinking Uwe Koetter staff had hit the panic button seconds after the assailants had entered the showroom. This forced the assailants to flee the scene by smashing the door to get out. No shots were fired and no-one was injured. The ordeal was over in 90 seconds.”
“Uwe Koetter is committed to investing in various programs to ensure that our staff are prepared for these unfortunate events. We regard our staff as our most prized assets, and we are incredibly proud of the calm manner in which they handled the situation under difficult conditions. It is due to this that the losses are minimal and that no-one was injured.”
This incident follows a spade of similar incidents around the greater Cape Town area over the past few weeks.
A Considered Response
“As a proudly South African business, we acknowledge there are many structural issues that we face here at the tip of Africa. However, we have proven to be resilient individuals and innovative thinkers.”
“It is in the spirit of remaining true to our German heritage with regard to quality and our South African roots in terms of innovation, that Uwe Koetter implemented a strategy to effectively deal with the issues within and beyond our control.”
“Over the past three years Uwe Koetter has progressively been moving towards digitising our business and will carry less stock as a result. The risk of such incidents will thus become less. The majority of our sales are generated from bespoke items and our digital library of products which provide clients with a 360-degree view now exceeds our physical inventory.”
“We have invested in 3D scanning, 3D printing, Computer Aided Design (CAD), 360-degree photography and prototypes and these elements now form part of our daily operations and our unique customer experience. As a result, physical inventory has become less important.”
“Technology has not only been adopted in our design and production departments, but also in client services where enterprise level video conferencing is used to communicate with our clients all over the country and indeed the world, reducing the need to clients to visit our stores.”
Simply visit https://uwekoetter.com/appointments and set a date and time to meet online with one of our award-winning designers from wherever you are using a phone, tablet or PC.
“As Uwe Koetter Jewellers continually pushes the bar in terms of innovation, we will continue to deliver unprecedented experience through our exceptionally talented team thus ensuring that we remain South Africa’s Leading Bespoke Jeweller.”
