Moscow Jewellery Factory (MIUZ) has always been famous for its craftsmen winning prizes and obtaining the diplomas of “the best enterprise in the jewellery trade”. One of the oldest factories in Russia has two interesting news: about its recent 100th anniversary and about its complete rebranding and renaming the company, the brand of which is now called “MIUZ Diamonds”.
The factory’s marketing director Irina Vasinskaya told Rough&Polished about this.
Has the pandemic led you to work on your rebranding? Is rebranding an anti-crisis measure?
No, the decision to rebrand has nothing to do with the crisis. Last year, we turned 100 years old and, approaching our anniversary, we revised our achievements and our strategy. As for our achievements, they are largely based on the customers’ confidence in our company, as well as in our goods’ impeccable quality for decades, which is confirmed by the prizes and diplomas for being “the best company in the jewellery trade”. At the same time, we realized that it was high time for our brand to become more emotional, so, it was necessary to shift the focus from the factory and production to our customers and to better understand their opinions, desires in order to “integrate” the brand into their lives. The company did not change its legal name, OAO MIUZ. But we have long been more than just a jewellery factory. Therefore, the brand and the commercial name of the stores have changed. We want to make our brand more emotionally charged.
How will its emotional charge be expressed?
At present, Moscow Jewellery Factory produces not just jewellery, but favourite jewellery pieces that fascinate every day. We position ourselves as a company with a certain philosophy and the desire to create a deeper emotional connection with our customers. In creating its jewellery, MIUZ Diamonds is inspired by women for whom it creates its jewellery pieces, and our goal is to fill them with admiration and celebrate a woman’s beauty. A diamond is just a means to make a woman look better and to highlight her perfection. The new brand positioning is about that, and we are turning into an emotional, meaningful fashion brand from just a manufacturing facility with retail stores.
As for the rebranding, what are the factory’s plans?
We set ourselves the task of becoming a company with more fashionable designs, a premium-class and more advanced company. It is very important for us to be attractive to young customers. We have got a new name “MIUZ” - short and meaningful - that, on the one hand, is the abbreviation of our company’s name, and on the other hand, is written in Latin, and thus opens up the opportunities for us to enter other markets. In addition, we have added the word “diamonds”, which underlines the core of our business and our expertise. The company remained focused on its main line of business - the manufacture of diamond jewellery, which is now emphasized in the name of the MIUZ Diamonds brand.
We sell our certified polished diamonds, and taking into account that we have our own production facilities, we can offer a wide selection of jewellery at the most attractive prices.
How is the company coping with the consequences of the pandemic?
Actually, except for the months when the stores were closed due to the lockdown, we had no sales problems. But on the whole, we believe that the crisis is a time of opportunity. Therefore, it is during this period that we are rebranding and transforming our business.
In parallel with the rebranding, MIUZ Diamonds is set to strengthen its advertising campaigns across all the available promotion channels.
We are actively investing in promoting the new name of our stores - after all, the “MIUZ Diamonds” chain has over 200 stores in more than 100 cities of the Russian Federation, from Kaliningrad to Vladivostok. In addition, we pay special attention to servicing our customers, training our shop assistants and, of course, developing our online store. In the jewellery business, it is especially important to display the jewellery on the web-site, therefore, we are constantly improving the quality of photos and videos of jewellery so that the customers could get a complete and comprehensive idea of the jewellery pieces they are going to buy.
Is the factory going to cut the diamond jewellery production and sales in favor of lower-end items?
We have an opposite situation. We see a growing demand for diamonds. The classical jewellery pieces that continue the traditions of the imperial family heritage are still popular, as well as today’s bestsellers from the main collections, such as “Royal” - the masterpieces of jewellery art studded with rare stones, including fancy diamonds, tanzanites; “Solo 1920” - exclusive solitaire jewellery; the classic “Infinite Love” rings - exquisite engagement rings with the sign of infinity; “Tenero” - finest works of jewellery art of modern design that are perfect for discerning young customers.
What can you tell about the sales of certified diamonds and diamond jewellery?
This is our core product and the sales are strong. Today, the Moscow Jewellery Factory focuses on the production of diamond jewellery, the manufacture of custom-made jewellery pieces and the sale of certified diamonds that can be purchased at the exchange price with a right of redemption.
In general, the average purchase amount at our stores is growing, which means that the interesting design as well as the jewellery craftsmanship, and extraordinary experience are more important for people than saving money. Buying jewellery, especially diamond jewellery, is a bright emotional experience. Now, when there are still restrictions due to the pandemic, people need emotions more than before. People suffer from the restrictions for travelling, visiting theaters and other cultural events, and it turns out that the joy of buying jewellery can at least partly compensate for the restrictions.
You recently launched a new line of lab grown diamonds. What results do you expect, how long-term are these plans?
For Western countries, lab grown diamonds are no longer a new trend. Abroad, this category is rapidly developing and winning the consumers. Environmental concerns are one of the drivers of growth in this category in the West. In our country, this trend is just emerging, and MIUZ is among those companies that give rise to the new trend. It is hard to distinguish lab grown diamonds from natural ones without special equipment. We have such equipment. the lab grown diamonds are in fashion, they are modern and attractive, especially for young people, so we launched our “Millennium” collection on the market to be in line with new trends. At the same time, we are confident that “Millennium” will be popular among both young people and the customers of other ages. Indeed, you can buy a larger stone for less money, and only you will know that this is not a natural diamond.
Galina Semyonova for Rough&Polished
