The study of the industry exhibition movement in Russia – including a jewellery one – does not have a long history. The interest to it was shown in the late 1990s only.
Most of the jewellery fairs and shows in Russia originated in the post-soviet period. They are arranged regularly and have a fairly constant number of participants that is consistent with the world’s average level of national exhibitions (42 events with an average number of 150-300 participating companies).
Within Russia, jewellery exhibitions are held in 20 subordinate entities of the Russian Federation, mainly, in the cities with a million–plus population (Moscow, St. Petersburg, Perm, Ekaterinburg, Ufa, Kazan, Volgograd, Nizhny Novgorod, Postov-on-the Don, Samara, Novosibirsk, etc.), large resort cities (Sochi, Kislovodsk), regional centres (Tumen, Krasnoyarsk) and in the cities with a developed jewellery industry (Kostroma, Ekaterinburg). The geography of shows is mainly determined by how far the cities are from the Central Russia.
In full compliance with the world trends, jewellery exhibition activities in Russia are concentrated in the centres of gems and jewellery manufacture, in recreation centres and in densely populated hubs with high purchasing power. The latter is a dominating factor. At present, there is a wholesale growth trend in the national exhibitions (in particular, the ones of the ‘Jewelry Russia’ programme) as opposed to the growing practice of retailing at the foreign expositions (where earlier the end buyers were debarred from participating).
The most popular jewellery exhibitions in Russia are first of all those held in Moscow like ‘Junwex. Moscow’, ‘Best Adornments of Russia’, ‘New Russian Style’, ‘Golden Globe’, ‘The Moscow Salon of Fine Arts’, ‘Jewelry Vernissage’ in Moscow, as well as ‘Junwex’, ‘Best Adornments of Russia/Piter-Jeweller’ in St. Petersburg. The most significant regional exhibitions include ‘Junwex Ekaterinburg’, the Sochi exhibitions ‘Interjeweller’, ‘Golden Season’ (an autumn exhibition of ‘Interjeweller’ Exhibition’ and ‘The Gold of The Summer Capital’, Ekaterinburg fairs ‘UralJeweller’ and ‘UralJeweller-Spring’, the exhibitions ‘Jeweller Expo Kazan’ in the Volga area, ‘Jasper of the Baltic Sea’ in Kaliningrad and ‘SibJewelry’ in Novosibirsk, as well as the jewellery festival ‘The Golden Ring Of Russia’ (Kostroma). Twenty five percent of all the annual jewelry shows arranged in the country are international.
‘Mineral Show’ (held since 1990) and ‘World of Stone’ are among the proven fairs of precious and semi-precious stones. These expositions are visited by cognoscenti of handmade jewellery that are not commercially manufactured, as well as by connoisseurs of precious and semi-precious stones and unique ornamental stones.
Exhibitions ‘Junwex’, “The Best Jewelry of Russia/Piter-Jeweller” (St. Petersburg) and ‘Jeweller’ and ‘New Russian Style’ (Moscow) are intended for consumers of mass-market jewellery. Premium class jewellery is offered by Moscow shows ‘The Moscow Salon of Fine Arts’, ‘Jewelers Guild’ and ‘Golden Globe’. Low-end products (silver jewellery set with semi-precious stones) can be purchased at Moscow fairs ‘Jewelry Vernissage’ and practically at all regional fairs.
ROSJEWELRYEXPO, a long-standing jewellery association of the country, hosts 4 seasonal shows every year at their Sokolniki showground sites in Moscow. These are ‘Jeweller-Spring’ (March), ‘Jeweller-2’ held (May), ‘Jeweller’ (September), the oldest jewellery show in Russia (it is 55 year old this year), and ‘Jeweller-3’ (December). The organizers consider these exhibitions as international ones.
‘Jeweller’ is the only jewellery exhibition in Russia that like those held in Basel (Switzerland) and Vicenza (Italy) is among the largest in the world. In addition, it ranks first as for the number of participating countries.
RESTEK (St. Petersburg), the major and up-to-date multi-purpose exhibition association in Russia that specializes in jewellery exhibitions as well holds three seasonal jewellery shows at the showground sites of both the capitals. In February, ‘Junwex St. Petersburg’ International jewellery exhibition in terms of the number of participants (over 600) is held in St. Petersburg. ‘Junwex Мoscow’ (September) and ‘New Russian Style’ (May), the first international jewellery show is held at the All-Russia Exhibition Centre, Moscow. The ‘New Russian Style’ jewellery show enabled the advanced exhibition technologies to come to the country.
‘Jewelry Russia’, a united exhibition programme of RESTEK, within the framework of which the above events are run, is aimed both at the Russian jewellers and at the members of the international CIBJO confederation (joined by the Association in 2011), and develops civilized exhibition services on the Russian jewellery market.
Besides, within the framework of the extension strategy, the programme is developing the specialized sections, including JUNWEX TECH and JUNWEX WATCH, Moscow, or JUNWEX SILVER, St. Petersburg. Among the possible options in future, there is the creation of the specialized section of JUNWEX GEMS for companies offering diamond cutting and polished gems for jewellery.
Appealing to history, it is worth noting that JUNWEX appeared thanks to age-long opposition of Moscow and St. Petersburg. For both the capitals having a huge jewellery potential it was vital to have an opportunity to host professional fora. When the Moscow and St. Petersburg exhibitions coincided in dates it became clear that St. Petersburg was not able to withstand the head-on competition.
It was decided that different timeline would be used for the exhibitions and to some extent the specialization was agreed upon: the trade show in Sokolniki, justifiably ranking first in the Russian rating would be for wholesale buyers. The St. Petersburg’s Junwex has become renowned as an experimental platform - new collections are brought here, innovative ideas are tested and new names are discovered here. For a decade of work in the Manezh, since 1992, the exhibition has grown so much that it had to be removed to the pavilions of LenExpo Exhibition Centre that is the largest in St. Petersburg.
The other category of organizers comprises various industry associations. The most active among them are the ‘Russian Jewelers Guild’ that hosts an exhibition the ‘Jewelers Guild’ (in December) in the Moscow Manezh, and the ‘Jewelers Guild Of North-West’ that in cooperation with the ‘Piter-Jeweller Expo’ run the ‘Piter-Jeweller' exhibition (in January), the largest one in terms of visitors number (20 000).
The specialized exhibitions are worth particular mentioning as the jewellery manufacturers themselves are the initiators and organizers of these exhibitions. Their projects support the national manufacturers aiming at the promotion of the Russian jewellery brands in the national market (‘The First Professional Jewelry Exhibition’, 2012).
“Nowadays, the national jewellery companies have a clear understanding that the main threat to the Russian jewellery industry comes from foreign manufacturers,” says Flun Gumerov, president of ‘Almaz-Holding’ company. Russian importers of foreign jewellery unintentionally ‘dig a grave’ for domestic manufacturers also by using such a serious tool as exhibitions. Moreover, many Russian companies display import products at the exhibitions as if these are of Russian origin made by them, and I believe that we should unite in front of such a threat.”
“Initially, both the oldest jewellery exhibition in Sokolniki, and the St. Petersburg exposition were organized to give a possibility to the national manufacturers to demonstrate their new goods and their achievements,” says V.B. Radashkevich, Director General of the ‘Russian Jewelers Guild’ in his interview to the ‘Russian Jewelry Chain’. After the importers of foreign goods and foreign participants started to participate in these exhibitions, a situation emerged when any who wishes and buys the exhibition floor site can display the goods he wants. Taking into account the smuggled and infringing goods, it is high time to hold a specialized trade show of national jewellery manufacturers (‘The Jewelers Guild – 2005’).”
The number of jewellery shows held in Russia every year is rather big and their level is high. This is proved by a steady growth in their participants and visitors number. The range of product seems to increase, too.
But still there are jewellery professionals who believe that the number of exhibitions held in Russia does not meet the purpose of such events. The industry exhibition is a kind of show where every company displays its new collections. To justify the participation in such a number of exhibitions that are held nowadays, and to interest potential partners in their offers, the participant should turnover at least 30-50 percent of their goods range within a year but in fact, the manufacturers display the same products from year to year.
Often, rather the commercial interests of the exhibition organizers dominate and not the interests of a manufacturer and trade. Many jewellers think that the time is ripe to get the jewellery exhibition activities under control because several shows are arranged at the same time, which reflects adversely both on manufacturers and potential partners.
Others believe that there are also positive aspects in the parallel exhibitions. These include the double promotion and double efforts of both organizers to attract wholesale buyers that, as a rule, visit both shows.
Another issue that worries the trade representatives is retailing at exhibitions. The industry professionals complain that the specialized exhibitions actually turn into large stores. Presentations of new collections, search for wholesale buyers and a saturated business programme are typical of the exhibitions oriented towards professionals only present on the market. This is the venue where new world tendencies, fashion trends governing the development of the jewellery market for the years to come. And the retailing diverts the manufacturers’ resources to arranging the shows and filling of ‘retail’ display showcases, and – which is even worse – the goods are sold at dumping prices.
By the way, the world practice shows it is not allowed to mix the two exhibition types at all – professional and retail. One of few exceptions is the show in Basel, where the organizers allowed their exponents the possibility for retailing in a separate pavilion provided they would get an appropriate license. Moreover, so far the European organizes have not faced the issue regarding the necessity of arranging various jewellery exhibitions or a show in Basel several times a year.
Veronica Novoselova, Rough&Polished
