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Looking for feedback on Forevermark

When I was heading over to London last week to learn more about De Beers’ Forevermark branded diamond program I spent the majority of my time on the plane working on an in-depth story to accompany our upcoming State of the Majors report.

Without giving too much away, one topic National Jeweler will be addressing in the analysis is the trend whereby some of the industry’s biggest sellers--think retailers such as Kay Jewelers and Macy’s--are stocking more and more “exclusive” lines tied to well-known names.

What is it about these exclusive partnerships that are so appealing these days? They are a way to get potential customers into your store by putting a name out there that they know, trust and consider to be an expert or standout in one certain area. Kay Jewelers is now offering a bridal line by Neil Lane, whose name is all over the place come red carpet time. At Sears, it’s wedding reality show star David Tutera, at J.C. Penney it’s bridal tied into the publication Modern Bride. On Monday, in fact, Women’s Wear Daily (WWD) published an article in which J.C. Penney’s CEO said that Modern Bride-branded  line had generated “strong gains” in its bridal business and that the company in general was focusing on its exclusive offerings to generate growth going forward. (A WWD subscription is needed to read the story.)

And for the independent retailer it’s...De Beers? After learning about Forevermark over the course of a couple of days last week, one thought that entered my mind was that for the independent retailer, Forevemark can be their “exclusive” offering, tied to a name that’s most definitely associated with diamonds in one way or another, De Beers.

At its core, Forevermark is yet another symbol of the changing times. For years and years, De Beers’ controlled the vast majority of the world’s supply of rough diamonds. Today, their share is less than half; it’s actually down to between 35 and 40 percent, as one De Beers executive told me when I was in London.

The company that once was interested in seeing diamonds sold everywhere and developed generic marketing campaigns for everyone to use now has had to create something special to set itself, and its diamonds, apart.

At the same time, the brick-and-mortar retailers that used to be the only go-to for diamond shopping now find themselves competing with online retailers that can sell it for less. They too, need to find something to standout from the competition and offer to the consumer something that they can’t find, and buy, online. (De Beers said they won’t be partnering with online retailers for the Forevermark program; whether or not U.S. retailers will be able to sell online is still up for debate, as noted in this interview with Forevermark CEO Stephen Lussier.)

It’s into this space that De Beers has launched Forevermark for the independent jeweler in the United States. The branded diamond only will be available at select retailers--think American Gem Society-level jewelers--who buy into the program. It’s not, as Lussier put it, “going to be the mass sort of program that De Beers’ historical programs were.”

De Beers declined to provide specific figures on how many jewelers it’s aiming to have in the Forevermark program, what jewelers already are signed up to carry the diamonds or to verify the dollar buy-in amount for the program, which, as I understand, varies from store to store.

I hope to have some of this information shortly but, in the meantime, I’d like to get some feedback from independent retail jewelers, and any other interested industry parties, on Forevermark.

Retailers: do you think carrying Forevermark is something that could help set your store apart?

From your perspective, what do consumers, in general, think of the name De Beers? One retailer told me that they thought the name carried positive weight with consumers. When I asked De Beers about it in London, Lussier told me that consumers’ general associations with the name “De Beers” are “very positive. There’s hardly any negative imagery associated with De Beers around the issue of conflict, quite the opposite.”

Along those same lines, De Beers also noted that one of the upsides to Forevermark is that it is essentially traced from mine to market and can be 100 percent guaranteed as conflict-free, which is an issue that is especially important to younger consumers. I don’t generally disagree with this statement, but it seems like every time I talk with retailers about this issue, they tell me that very few customers who come in to buy a diamond even bring up the “conflict” or “blood” diamond issue.

Retailers, what are you thoughts here? Comments can be noted here or e-mailed to michelle.graff@nationaljeweler.com.

Animal instinct kicks in

I’ve seen some fierce animal-inspired jewelry lately, and I’m talking about more than gold and silver serpents slithering up arms and fingers. Designers have embraced the entire animal kingdom, from exotic felines to animals under the sea.

Carrera y Carrera celebrates pinnacle predators with its “Bestiario” collection. Included in the line is this 18-karat gold eagle cuff (below), which retails for $31,300.

 
The collection’s 18-karat gold tiger ring with smoky quartz (below) retails for $9,800.

 
Carrera y Carrera’s “Mediterraneo” 18-karat gold Calipso ring (below) features a simple, snail shell-like detail and retails for $4,200.

 
Christian Tse's turtle ring (below) is made of 18-karat white gold and features over 1 carat of pave diamonds. The ring retails for $3,800.

 
Tse's 18-karat yellow gold bird (below) ring retails for $1,500.

 
Amrapali’s 18-karat gold and diamond black spider cuff (below) retails for $8,070.

 
Perfect for Saturday’s upcoming 136th Preakness Stakes, this Le Vian “Equestrian” ring with chocolate and white diamonds (below) retails for $2,398.

 
Tiffany Chou’s “On the Rocks” crab claw bangle (below) is plated with 14-karat gold and retails for an affordable $125.

 
“Original Sin” cufflinks by evelynH. Jewelry (below) feature 1 carat of white sapphires and 2 carats of peridot, with colored enamel in palladium and 18-karat white gold posts. The cufflinks retail for $6,800.

 
Meus Designs’ large rings with pave diamonds (below) feature a fold serpent on a gold shank with a blackened silver frame and just over 2 ½ carats of diamonds. The rings retail for $5,860 each.

 
C. Greene's double coil snake ring (below) is made of 18-karat gold with pave diamonds and retails for $5,000.

 
 

Celebrity Jewelry Gawk™

Always curious to see what those in the spotlight are accessorizing with, I wanted to share the best of celebrity jewelry that’s made its way to my desk over the past week.

There doesn’t seem to be much necklace-action, as stars instead are opting to decorate their ears, fingers and wrists with styles ranging from simple to elegant.

Country singer Carrie Underwood (below) accessorized with a Kabana ring (approx. $1,200), earrings (approx. $1,000) and bangles (approx. $2,500), made with white mother of pearl and onyx.

 
Singer and current judge on NBC’s TV show The Voice, Christina Aguilera (below) donned a Hellmuth “Croco” pattern ring on the show, retailing for $7,326.

 
Paris Hilton’s (below) Katerina Maxine diamond earrings retail for $13,900.

 
To celebrate the couple’s fifth wedding anniversary, Dean McDermott presented wife Tori Spelling with an Art Nouveau ring (below) by Neil Lane.

 
Singer Rihanna (below) sported Lana’s “Blake” earrings to the debut of her new perfume, Reb’l Fleur, in New York.

 
Kim Kardashian’s (below) Arunashi diamond slices with diamond earrings retail for $28,500.

 
Actress and singer Jennifer Hudson (below) accessorized with Amrapali diamond earrings and bracelets by M.C.L. by Matthew Campbell Laurenza, made with enamel, pave sapphires and semi-precious stones.

 
Singer and TV show singing judge Cee Lo Green was spotted purchasing DeLatori jewelry in Las Vegas in April, there on location to sheet the music video for his song, “I Want You.”

Green’s purchases included an 18-karat and sterling silver ring with yellow quartz and white topaz (below), retailing for $325.

Eva Mendes (below) sparkled in a Le Vian fancy colored diamond Plumeria ring, retailing for $14,498.

 
Young starlet Selena Gomez (below) was spotted wearing Tresor earrings and an Aranashi ring.

 
Also donning Tresor earrings was actress Rose McGowan (below).

 
To an Operation Smile event, Brooke Burke wore Christian Tse 18-karat white gold earrings with pink sapphires and diamonds, retailing for $25,000.

 

Thoughts on Conclave 2011

I was out in San Francisco last week for American Gem Society Conclave, my second Conclave in the nearly four years I’ve worked at National Jeweler.

Conclave is a lot to take in for one person, so I’ve done the best I can to deliver the highlights of the four-day conference. Here are some of my take-aways. Thoughts, comments and differing perspectives from those who attended--or even those who didn’t get a chance to go this year--are always welcome.

-- A simple message. The message delivered by a number of speakers last week seemed to center around one theme: keep it simple. Daniel Pink kicked off Conclave on Wednesday by challenging attendees to come up with one sentence to describe their purpose.

Zappos.com’s Tony Hsieh talked about how they narrowed the focus of the company over the years until they had it whittled down to one single purpose that described both their attitude toward employees and toward customers: delivering happiness.

And in a session on getting and keeping customers, hairdresser-cum-sales trainer Patricia Fripp issued attendees a challenge similar to that issued by Pink: come up with a simple phrase that describes your philosophy.

A few retailers in the audience shared their stores’ already-made taglines, including “spreading joy” and “buy locally,” a tagline chosen by the store to set it apart from the chain competitors in the same town.

-- A worthy cause. Diamond Development Initiative Chairman Ian Smillie gave a presentation at breakfast on Thursday describing the mission of DDI and encouraging retailers to take part in the new Friends of DDI program. The mission of DDI is to improve the lives and economic situations of the estimated 1.5 million artisanal diamond diggers in Africa and South America.

With this new friendship program, DDI is asking retailers for monetary contributions and, in return, DDI will supply retailers with materials about the program, including materials they can display at their store to let customers know they are working to improve the lives of a disadvantaged sect of the supply chain.

In my opinion, DDI is a great organization for retailers to become involved with, especially as younger generations of diamond buyers have shown that they have a penchant for choosing products and retailers that make a difference over those that don’t.

For more information, e-mail friends@ddiglobal.org or visit DDIGlobal.org.

-- Surprise honor. One of Conclave’s more touching moments came on Thursday when AGS President Cathy Calhoun called longtime jeweler and certified gemologist appraiser (CGA) Cos Altobelli up on stage and announced that AGS was naming its library in honor of him, a first-time move for the organization. In his six decades in the jewelry industry, the North Hollywood, Calif.-based jeweler, gemologist and appraiser--who is a member of National Jeweler’s Retailer Hall of Fame--has spent countless hours mentoring others working to become CGAs. Having a library named in his honor will ensure no one will ever forget Altobelli’s contributions to the industry.

-- Social media takes a square. For this year’s Conclave AGS came up with a creative way to encourage networking: a bingo game. Each attendee was given a card with squares reading things such as “Conclave Attendee from PA” or “First-time attendee.” The goal was to meet people that satisfied each of these criteria and have them initial your card. Just like in any bingo game, the goal was to complete a line in any direction. Once an attendee could claim bingo, they turned in their card in for the chance to win an iPad 2 at Saturday’s Shipley award luncheon.

Sign of the times: Two of the squares had to deal with social media. Attendees could either post on the AGS Facebook page or Tweet #AGSConclave to earn a square, and they weren’t shy about doing so.

As of Sunday as I write this on the plane back to New York, there were countless posts on the AGS Facebook page referencing Conclave and #AGSConclave tweets.