Jeweller: The Great Diamond Debate - Round II

LAB-GROWN SUPPLIER
Important lessons have been learnt
from the first year of Lightbox
SALLY MORRISON‘S KEY POINTS:
Consumers remain confused about whether lab-grown diamonds are a diamond simulant or not
There is very strong demand from consumers for lab-grown fancy colour diamonds
The lab-grown diamond industry is still in its growth phase; innovation and competition will keep prices low
While the awareness of lab-grown diamonds
may generally be increasing, confusion about
the product obviously still exists.
The Lightbox Jewelry experience – based on
focus groups, quantitative and qualitative research,
and real life customer interactions in our pop-up
stores – suggests a wide variety of beliefs and
misconceptions about what constitutes a
lab-grown diamond.
The most common questions are: ‘Is it CZ?’ and,
‘Is this like moissanite?’
So, as an industry, we need accept that in
many cases, the average consumer is still quite
uninformed, even though there’s been information
available for a while. It also means that we must
re-double our efforts around education on the
category: both for our own staff and for the public.
Ultimately, it is our responsibility to offer consumers
a real and clear choice, and to be sure they are fully
aware about the product they’re buying. We have
recently launched new online educational content
in an attempt to address this issue.
Our experience shows that, once consumers
understand lab-grown diamonds, they are typically
more open minded about considering the stones
for a fashion jewellery purchase, particularly for fun
layering and stacking in different cuts and hues.
While the majority of consumers are clear they
would prefer a natural diamond for their milestone
moments – such as engagement, a gift of love, or
significant anniversaries – they are interested in labgrown
jewellery as a decorative accessory.
They see lab-grown diamonds as a sparkly treat that
they can use to punctuate an outfit, rather like a
designer bag or pair of shoes.
This openness is not limited to the Millennial
consumer – far from it.
In fact, we have seen very broad interest from
a wide range of demographics, including older
jewellery fans, who already have a nice collection of
pieces but are looking for an excuse to buy more!
This insight has very much informed our product
strategy: having launched with simple classic
silhouettes, we have now introduced stacking rings
with trillions, cushions, and baguettes.
Coloured lab-grown diamonds are potentially a
huge area to drive growth. Significantly, over the
first year of business Lightbox sold more jewellery in
pink and blue than classic white.
For most consumers this is an entirely new and
exciting product, since few have even had the
opportunity to see a natural pink or blue diamond,
which are so precious and elusive ‘in the wild’!
For the jewellery design community too, access to
lab-grown coloured diamonds offers the possibility
of creating bigger designs in broad palettes with
stones that can potentially be grown to their
individual colour specifications.
DIFFERENTIATION AND ACCOUNTABILITY
For overall consumer confidence, disclosure is key
at all levels of our industry. The Diamond Producers
Association’s (DPA) Project Assure recently tested a
range of diamond verification instruments and rated
their efficiency and effectiveness.
This is an ongoing program to assess available
instruments in the market and is an important tool
for the trade.
It’s a useful first stop for anyone wanting to research
available equipment and its performance.
All Lightbox lab-grown diamonds above 0.20 carats
have a special laser inscription of our logo that sits in
the centre of the stone.
The technology to create this internal mark was
developed by a company associated with the
prestigious Oxford University in the UK.
Stones below 0.20 carats have an inscription on the
girdle. These measures prevent any possibility of
consumers being misled about the product.
When it comes to the lab-grown diamonds
themselves, as is expected with any new
technology, prices have already dropped
due to increased – and improved – production
being implemented.
It would be reasonable to expect this trend to
continue; as techniques become more sophisticated
and processes become more efficient, better
quality material and more colours will likely
become available.
There are already many more online options today
than existed a year ago.
Despite all the activity in the market, it’s important
to remember that this is still a relatively new
technology in terms of being able to create
gem-quality material; therefore we are only at the
beginning of this changing market.
The good news is that we can harness this
innovation to drive growth. Watch this space. i
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sally Morrison is chief marketing officer
at Lightbox Jewelry. She has previously held
senior marketing roles at World Gold Council
(LoveGold), Gemfields and Forevermark.
December 2019 Jeweller 39