De Beers Had a Name. It Just Never Had a Jewelry Brand

(jckonline.com) - Recently, De Beers took full control of the De Beers Diamond Jewellers retail chain. This makes sense, as De Beers always seemed more invested in the project than partner LVMH.  As many have noted, De Beers owns a diamond brand (Forevermark), as well as a retail chain. It makes a certain sense for them to work together. De Beers has said it doesn’t see this happening. But this episode presents a few lessons. The first won’t surprise JCK readers: Retail is hard. Many jewelers predicted problems when the venture first launched. The second is that while name awareness is important, it doesn’t guarantee success. Otherwise, we’d all shop at Sears and eat Trump Steaks. As then–De Beers managing director Gary Ralfe put it, way back in 2006, “It clearly takes more than the name of De Beers for the diamond jewelry to fall off the shelves.”