The Federal Trade Commission has released proposed revisions to its famed Jewelry Guides. If marketers can use the term to describe both an 18k and a 6k product equally, then the bar to ensure consumer understanding has risen exponentially.
I don’t think I can remember a more volatile time in this part of the industry. Every day I am getting a ton of emails, from speculation on pricing, to new labs, and most disturbingly, synthetics. And let’s be clear, whether you call these diamonds man made, or lab grown, they are still synthetic diamonds.
“The State of Retail – 2016”, a comprehensive report, this group surveyed 5,444 consumers, asking in depth questions regarding their perceptions and behaviors around retail shopping. Some of the key takeaways were very interesting, but the overall message was very clear.
We have to remember in the industry, the tech world is coming. Both manufacturers and retailers need to start paying attention to this category.
So I arrived in Las Vegas this morning to attend the Consumer Electronics Show (CES). What was I expecting? Well, I have been coming here for almost 25 years to the jewelry shows, so how different could this be? Well if we thought it was busy during jewelry week, you have no idea what busy means!
I spend many hours the week between Christmas and New Year analyzing what happened across the country to get a sense of the state of the economy, the industry and the individual jewelry company. I’m looking for context, patterns, signs to be optimistic about and signs of concern that cause me to pick up the phone.
There are those who believe the introduction of synthetic diamonds is a benign inevitability; the marketplace will find a place for them and their introduction won’t have any effect on the natural diamond market. I’m not one of them.
Synthetic diamonds have been around for many years and have naturally been compared with other synthetic gemstones regarding the minimal effect that those synthetics have had on the value and marketability of their natural counterparts. Why should man-made diamonds be more problematic?
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Martin Flyer has bridal products for a first time or second time bride looking for classic, vintage or contemporary styles in all of the most sought after classifications, solitaire, three stone, channel , shared prong and micropave as well as the current popular looks like halo’s, twisted and split shank rings.
