RAPAPORT... The 4Cs are not the only things that make a piece of diamond jewelry a sales winner. In an ongoing series, RDR explores the “3Ws” — what’s selling, what’s not and why — by going straight to the people who really know — jewelry retailers. Each month, we ask a sampling of retailers to comment on the important issues that are facing the industry today. Here is what they had to say when asked: Do you sell branded diamonds and are your customers asking for them?
TOM HART, OWNER
HART JEWELERS
GRANTS PASS, OREGON
“We carry primarily two branded diamonds. One of them is Hearts on Fire and the other is the Forever10. They do very well.
“Basically, people see them on display in the store, rather than ask for them. We’ve had Hearts on Fire in the store long enough to where people are coming back to purchase additional pieces. When we first stocked them, no one knew Hearts on Fire from anything else and it was just from our marketing and showing them in the store. But now we have enough customers out there with Hearts on Fire that they come back for an accessory piece — a pair of earrings to match the ring and that sort of thing. We have had trunk shows and promote it and advertise it, but not very aggressively.”
VICKI CUNNINGHAM, OWNER
CUNNINGHAM FINE JEWELRY
TULSA, OKLAHOMA“We sell Hearts on Fire and we do very well with it. I actually sell more of the jewelry than the loose diamonds. The other brand that we do very well with is South African diamonds, SA Gems, and they actually allow you to brand it yourself, so it actually becomes our diamond.
“I think Hearts on Fire gives you an edge that you don’t get with an unbranded diamond. We promote it. We sell a lot of bridal from Hearts on Fire and they’ve really developed a nice, strong fashion jewelry line — pendants, rings, that sort of thing — and we do very well with it. And SA Gems has a mounted line, bridal and fashion, and loose. And what’s nice is when our customers buy one of the diamonds, they get registered for a chance to win a trip to South Africa.
“Both of these lines have good added incentives to use with customers that as an independent helps set us apart.”
RICHARD HUNTINGTON, OWNER
HUNTINGTON JEWELERS
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA“We sell the Original Radiant Cut diamond.
“The diamond is available as loose stones and in jewelry and they have natural colored radiant diamonds — Fancy yellows. We’ve done them both ways and done pretty well, especially with their colored stones. The finished jewelry we’ve purchased from them is rings. We’ve mainly purchased loose stones and made up our own mountings. When we have a sufficient supply to show our clients and we market it, it does real well; so it’s dependent on our efforts. The product is really nice.
“The company helps out with an explanation pamphlet and we have a flip chart that shows the light performance of the diamond and we train our sales staff on how to explain that to the clients. People see the display in the store but sometimes they come in and ask for it. The Original Radiant Diamond company has a web presence and on that website they have the stocking dealers so they drive some people to us. Also, when they get phone calls, they’ll look up whoever is in the area and recommend them. So we do get traffic generated from the diamond manufacturer.”
MICHAEL ZIBMAN, GENERAL MANAGER
WINDSOR JEWELERS
AUGUSTA, GEORGIA“We have some branded diamonds but we don’t necessarily promote them as branded diamonds. We have them for people who want that quality and that comfort over and above what we have built for the Windsor name. So we do have branded diamonds but, for the most part, we do not sell them. It’s not the thrust of our business.
“We’ve built our reputation so the clientele really trusts us and, as a matter of fact, we probably sell more noncerted diamonds than we do certed diamonds. We have that trust factor, so we have them, but we don’t need them.”
BILL CAMPBELL, OWNER/PRESIDENT
McCASKILL & CO.
DESTIN, FLORIDA“We do sell branded diamonds and that’s really all we sell. We do Kwiat, we do Daniel K in a brand, and we also sell LC International hearts-and-arrows diamonds. But mostly, we do Kwiat.
“When customers come into the store and the diamonds sparkle so much, they just go ‘wow.’ When they go shopping at other places around, they see there’s a difference and they come back to us. We advertise the designers and for us that’s the direction we’re going. We have the Kwiat bridal line and if someone wants another mounting, we will call Kwiat and get the loose diamond. We are highly confident in what they do and the diamonds are just absolutely beautiful. We also stock their fashion pieces — we have at least five cases of Kwiat. It’s our best-selling diamond line; it’s the quality and the service. We do very well with it. The price is worth it to us. The business we’ve built over the years is in branded pieces and top of the line, so it works very well.”
DALE FERBER, OWNER
FERBER JEWELRY
JACKSON, MISSISSIPPI“We don’t sell branded diamonds. We tried those in the past and the cost/reward basis was not worth it. Our clientele would not pay the premium price for those. We sold Hearts on Fire in the past and if someone calls me and wants that, I would get it for them. But we don’t advertise it. Demographically, we’re in a fairly poor state, so I think that has something to do with it. But flipping that around, more and more people want a nice certified diamond or a GIA-certified diamond. And we carry quite a bit of that.”
Article from the Rapaport Magazine - May 2008. To subscribe click here.