Headlines

Can De Beers Convince Millennials to Buy Diamonds Instead of iPads?

Published

8 years ago

April 12, 2016

INSTORE Staff

Doing so requires a big ad push, analyst says.

Diamonds are the cheapest they’ve been in a decade, Bloomberg writes, “a sign that the industry is failing to maintain the cachet of its brand” as suppliers attempt to catalyze demand among millennials who seem “more interested in spending money on vacations, fancy handbags and high-tech gadgets.” The article explains how diamond suppliers like De Beers and Alrosa PJC attempted to raise prices in 2015, but that effort was stymied after buyers in India threatened to boycott auctions of rough gems, resulting in De Beers slashing prices by 15 percent last year and another seven percent in January.

Now, De Beers is hoping that its recently increased spending on advertising will turn things around. Indeed, Bloomberg says it’s an encouraging sign that the mining giant was able to raise rough prices by 2 percent in a sale this week, the first increase in more than a year. “It’s got to come down to ad-spend,” Ben Davis, a mining analyst at Liberum Capital Ltd., told the business news outlet. “They just need to bite the bullet.”

When There’s No Succession Plan, Call Wilkerson

Bob Wesley, owner of Robert C. Wesley Jewelers in Scottsdale, Ariz., was a third-generation jeweler. When it was time to enjoy life on the other side of the counter, he weighed his options. His lease was nearing renewal time and with no succession plan, he decided it was time to call Wilkerson. There was plenty of inventory to sell and at first, says Wesley, he thought he might try to manage a sale himself. But he’s glad he didn’t. “There’s no way I could have done this as well as Wilkerson,” he says. Wilkerson took responsibility for the entire event, with every detail — from advertising to accounting — done, dusted and managed by the Wilkerson team. “It’s the complete package,” he says of the Wilkerson method of helping jewelers to easily go on to the next phase of their lives. “There’s no way any retailer can duplicate what they’ve done.”