Headlines

Brilliant Earth Files for IPO as It Seeks to Grab Jewelry Market Share

The company says it’s served 370,000 customers through its e-commerce platform and 13 showrooms.

Published

2 years ago

August 30, 2021

INSTORE Staff

Brilliant Earth Group Inc., a jewelry company with a focus on ethical sourcing of gemstones, has filed for an initial public offering.

The San Francisco-based company is seeking to have its shares trade on the Nasdaq under the ticker BRLT.

The size of the IPO is listed at $100 million in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Bloomberg reports that the figure is “a placeholder that will change when terms of the share sale are set.”

The digital-first company stated that it sees an opportunity to grab market share:

Despite its mammoth size, the jewelry industry is highly fragmented and includes players like mall jewelers, local independent stores, and department stores, among others. Globally, there is no single fine jewelry player with over 4% market share. According to Bain, approximately 65% of the industry is composed of thousands of small and independent jewelers, many of which are struggling to address evolving consumer preferences for personalization and e-commerce and are further limited by reduced purchasing power and an inventory-heavy model. Mall jewelers have also been slow to modernize an outdated retail experience, and face declining foot traffic. We believe the rapidly changing industry provides ample opportunity for Brilliant Earth to take share.

Brilliant Earth stated that it has served 370,000 customers through its e-commerce platform and 13 showrooms. Currently in the works are six new showrooms in a variety of cities. The company opened Portland and Seattle earlier this summer and will be expanding into Austin and Dallas. It will also open its first location in New York later this fall.

“Because our showrooms serve as destinations with some customers traveling long distances to visit them, we believe that we can achieve near-national showroom coverage with under 100 locations,” the company stated. “We expect this highly efficient showroom model to complement our digital strategy and continue to drive growth and profitability.”

Brilliant Earth posted net sales of $251.8 million in 2020, with net income of $21.6 million.

Read more at Reuters

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