Jeweller - March 2024

News
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Lab-created diamonds: Popular with young consumers
According to recent media reports, lab-created
diamonds are increasingly popular with consumers
in New Zealand; however, the future of the category
remains uncertain.
Based in Auckland, Four Words co-owner Shivana
Pemberton said she’s noticed a notable increase
in customers' awareness and popularity of labcreated
diamonds.
"A two-carat solitaire diamond engagement ring,
if you were wanting to go natural you are probably
looking at $NZ24,000 to $NZ26,000. For the labgrown
diamond equivalent, you would be looking at
around $NZ8000," she told Newshub.
"Most of our competitors now offer lab-grown
diamonds, even some competitors that we didn't
think ever would."
This report comes after a story published by the
Associated Press, which questioned statements
made by lab-created diamond producers amid
concerns about greenwashing.
Owner of The Diamond Shop, Sera Cruickshank,
said that lab-created diamond jewellery accounts
for around 90 per cent of sales, despite the
Auckland store also offering natural diamonds.
"It's having a really big impact on natural diamonds.
In 2023 alone, they took an absolute dive of just over
20 per cent; it's almost unheard of," she said.
"Lab-grown diamonds really have changed the
industry and made it really difficult for natural
diamonds to compete."
What does the future hold?
Despite the apparent popularity of lab-created
diamonds among young consumers, industry
analyst Paul Zimnisky told Business Insider that he
expects jewellery retailers to return their focus to
natural diamonds this year.
"It's a manufactured version of one of humans'
most valuable natural resources. It allows
consumers to buy a diamond at really affordable
prices, especially very large diamonds that would
cost tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars if
they were natural diamonds,” he explained.
“I think people kind of just bought it, and they
thought, 'you're the only one with a three-carat
diamond. But if you go to a wedding these days,
you're just looking at people's engagement rings;
there's a lot of three-, four-, five-carat diamonds,
and it's become ubiquitous.”
Zimnisky also drew attention to recent high-profile
endorsements of lab-created diamonds – which
include Michael Hill International, Pandora and
Prada – and suggested that the popularity of the
stones may prove to be their downfall.
"Some of the fad is starting to fade a bit. I think it's
become a lot more mainstream," he added.
“I think now you might actually start to see the
opposite happen, where people are like, I just want
a smaller natural diamond."
As part of Jeweller’s 2024 State of the Industry
Report, more than 200 retailers were surveyed
about the importance of lab-created diamonds to
their business.
The responses were almost perfectly divided.
Around 40 per cent of respondents either ‘strongly
agreed’ or ‘agreed’ that lab-created diamond
jewellery has become a significant part of their
business over the past decade.
A greater number (42 per cent) stated that labcreated
diamond jewellery was not essential to
their business.
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