The jewellery produced by Lazurit & K attracts the attention of visitors at the exhibitions and fairs where it is given awards and diplomas.
On its website, this jewellery company is presented as follows: “We have our own manufacturing facility in Moscow. We co-operate with renowned jewelers and observe the traditions of the Russian jewellery school. Our jewelry is hand-made and undergoes a full production cycle starting from design sketches to producing final jewelry goods. We use high quality polished diamonds from Yakutia having conformance certificates. Every jewelry piece we make has a lifetime guarantee and a quality certificate. Our jewelry collections are released in limited editions.”
Valeriy Kochetkov, СЕО and founder of this family business having its own jewellery-manufacturing workshop, answered the questions from Rough&Polished.
You take part in major jewellery exhibitions despite the economic situation. How do they contribute to the market development?
Yes, we take part in exhibitions, and this participation is a must in the difficult economic period, because this is the way for us to find out the supply and demand on the market. Having approached our display, the customer takes his own decision about the need and choice of the jewellery items but our role is only to help the customer do this through telling him/her about our production, studs, characteristics, where the gems were mined and cut and polished. I always have a positive attitude towards exhibitions: the market development is not possible without exhibitions. The jewellery presentations are required as well as their promotion and shows. After summing up the results of every exhibition, the understanding of a number of issues comes to us, for example, what the purpose of our participation was, what we wanted to demonstrate, what partnerships were developed and whether all the plans were realized.
What assortment saw the higher demand – what do the sales late last year and early this year show?
This question is rather difficult as it covers a wide goods spectrum in the jewellery market. As for our company, the high-end jewellery was in the highest demand. And today, a customer prefers high-end pieces (although, everyone has his/her own understanding of a high-end and lower end jewellery).
What is your attitude to synthetics diamonds?
Synthetic diamonds is a substitute product. They are like fashion jewellery. It is not direct competition. They are an alternative to the natural diamonds but do not replace them. In spite of this fact, the synthetic diamonds play a certain role in the income decrease in the jewellery industry as they take a certain number of customers. The natural diamonds have a firm niche in the market and it is difficult and costly - if not impossible - to force them out of the market.
How do the polished diamonds meet your expectations as an investment tool?
Today and in the future to come, the polished diamonds will be a successful long-term investment. One of the major polished diamonds’ advantage is that they are in shortage: over time, the diamonds reserves are depleting and their mining becomes more capital intensive. This results in a higher price for diamonds. Moreover, the polished diamonds can be stored practically eternally, especially, if to compare them with pieces of art – paintings, sculptures, etc.
What are, in your opinion, the reasons of the weak development of the jewellery industry? Is anything being done to improve its conditions?
If to consider the domestic market only, then the main reason is a tough competition among the numerous jewellery companies. At this stage, the Russian jewellery business is developing. There are absolute leaders in the market, and their manufacturing equipment is at a high level. But even they find it costly to design and launch a new collection. Chopard is an example with its ‘floating’ diamonds – only few manufacturers can do the same new design. This superiority over the other competitors costs a lot.
Most of the companies compete with each other in the brand promotion. And it is important how a customer sees the company’s product and what associations arise. If the company competes in a high-end segment, it is critical that their customers would perceive the jewellery as an exclusive piece distinguished at the background of the other ones. And my opinion is that such a result could only be achieved through correct marketing and the ideal reputation gained for many years of high quality operation.
What is the situation with the prices for polished diamonds, are they in sufficient quantity on the market, what is your opinion about the diamond jewellery demand?
The polished prices decreased a little. The market dictates its terms. As judged by our partners with whom we have good business relations, I may say that some of them decreased their range of products, the others kept their previous supply or even new goods appeared.
Do you have to change your marketing policy, range of products and selling conditions due to the crisis?
I have a tremendous interest in what is happening, something new happens every day and various attempts are taken to bring in some changed. Not always one can look in the marketing textbook to find an answer there. I guess that my colleagues and I will be able to elaborate a new strategy and change the sales conditions for the better to strengthen our relations with our partners.
What is new and what is uphold in the jewellery sphere, in the marketing and PR technologies?
We pay much attention to the promotion and PR-technologies – we want to make ourselves known, tell about the jewellery art. Soon, a catalogue of new collections will be published, including the designs of future jewellery pieces as well as the photos and autographs with notes signed by our favourite and well-known people – actors, musicians, sportsmen, namely, Andrey Makarevich, Vladimir Durov, Jasmin and others.
What is your take of the present state of the polished diamonds and diamond jewellery market? What are your expectations about the polished diamonds and jewellery sales for this year?
The Russian polished diamonds market remains highly promising. We mine rough diamonds on our own, we only need to correctly organize their cutting and polishing and offer a good internal pricing policy to the jewellery entities. As for the diamond jewellery sales, today this sphere is stagnating due to known reasons.
I think that the market will recover closer to the autumn. There were and there will be jewellery market consumers despite all the difficulties caused by the economic situation. Nobody cancelled birthdays, weddings, gifts to the beloved ones. By and large, it is the market that should put the things right.
Is there any ‘crisis’ range of products? On what customers do you place your stake on in the recession times?
Yes, there is. The people come to the jewellery store, choose silver or gold pieces with semiprecious stones or diamonds. There is always a customer who prefers excellent or extraordinary jewellery and wants to demonstrate his/her status and buys a diamond or sapphire, ruby, emerald jewellery.
What should be done to stay successful in terms of jewelry sales in crisis times?
During the recession of 2008, I did not notice it, although many people spoke about it: this slowdown was of no impact on our business, we just made our position on the market even more stable. As for today’s events and actions in this situation, the main thing is neither stop working, nor cut the jobs, one should go on promoting his own business, create attractive products that are in demand on the market. For example, I would like to manufacture chess made of precious metals and I think this product will be in demand with the customers because Russia has a very rich history in chess and many people go in for this very interesting game.
I would also like to manufacture a box of matches made of precious metals and stones with matches. It would be a rare object and a museum piece, although it has a remarkable history. And we could combine it with our Lazurit & K company slogan “Jewels are for ever when they have history…”
What are your plans for the future?
We’ve got good partners all over the country – from Makhachkala to Kamchatka. The Lazurit’s jewellery has been displayed in Crokus for a long time – but I hope that soon, it will be on sale there under our own sign. Our business is not large-scale, it is a family one and we have our own manufacturing unit that is why we treat every jewellery piece as our child whom we admire and are proud of and we put our heart into it. I do not know what the result is but, at least, we do our best to make Russian jewellery art the same brand like the Russian ballet - as it used to be.
Galina Semyonova for Rough&Polished
