Women aren’t waiting around for men to buy them diamonds

(New York Post) - Women aren’t waiting around for their significant others to buy them diamonds anymore. A key growth area in jewelry is women gifting themselves, according to De Beers. Nearly a third of diamond sales in the US come from women buying their own rocks and baubles — up from 24 percent five years ago, the London-based diamond cartel said in early June. Among the self-gifters, 57 percent are married women and 43 percent are single. “The majority of diamonds in Asia are bought by women, but in America the perception is that diamonds should be gifted,” said Stephen Lussier, chief executive of De Beers’ Forevermark diamond brand. But that’s changing, Lussier says, and the industry is pulling out all the stops to encourage the new trend. Overall, diamond sales grew just 4.4 percent last year to $41 billion versus 5 percent the previous year, De Beers said as it released its annual report on the industry.