Diamonds Don’t Have to Mean What You Think They Mean

And for these consumers, they don’t.

North American jewelers are used to associating diamonds with love and romance, but in China, that relationship doesn’t always hold true, Bloomberg reports.

Women in the 18-34 age bracket account for 68 percent of diamond sales in China, and many of those sales have nothing to do with a romantic relationship.

To these consumers, “diamonds are more of a fashionable mark of achievement instead of a symbol of everlasting love,” Bloomberg reports, citing Joan Xu of advertising agency J. Walter Thompson.

And that means the largest diamond sellers in China have to adjust their marketing and their offerings accordingly. For example, they have to understand that their goal isn’t just to sell higher-priced diamond jewelry.

For the typical millennial woman who buys diamonds in China, “What we need to provide for her are pieces that are personalized, unique — but not too expensive, as she’ll possess many, not just one diamond piece,” said Wang Ensheng, marketing manager of Lao Feng Xiang, a jewelry company based in Shanghai.

Read more at Bloomberg.