Tiffany, already having its own stores in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, plans to open its new Australian store in Perth this July. The store will occupy approximately 4,500 square feet and three floors at 37 King Street in a premiere shopping area of the city.
The store will feature the whole array of Tiffany collections including engagement diamond rings, silver jewelry and the signature designs of Elsa Peretti, Paloma Picasso, Jean Schlumberger and Frank Gehry, as well as watches, gifts and accessories.
Tiffany announced plans to open its first new-format store (mini-Tiffany) in Glendale, California, this autumn.
The Gitanjali Group has indicated its plans to demerge five of its business units with the intention of listing each on the bourses. The company, best known for its Nakshatra, Asmi, Gilli and D’Damas brands, will begin the restructuring with its lifestyle, retail and diamond manufacturing business units.
Gitanjali expects to complete the process within 12-18 months, according to local news sources.
The changes are expected to help the company, given its venturesome plans for the Chinese and United States market. The company is currently consolidating its outlets and investing in manufacturing facilities with the intent to supply goods internally.
According to local sources, Gitanjali’s renewed retail global strategy may be to focus on the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Chinese markets in order to boost branded jewelry retailing, rather than its traditional focus on the U.S., given the deceleration in the American retail consumption demand.
Blue Nile, an American company being the largest online jewelry store in the United States, has captured over 4% of the diamond engagement ring market in the U.S., based on preliminary estimates for 2007. This is quite an accomplishment for a company that has been in business less than ten years.
Furthermore, it is surprising that an online merchant has been able to make such strong inroads into a business that has traditionally relied on romance, personal trust and emotion of clients as a major component of the purchase process.
However, the other no less important news is that the company’s growth rate has come to a halt in the first quarter of 2008. “Customers are behaving differently,” commented Blue Nile Chairman Mark Vadon. According to him, the global web users’ demand for jewelry is slowing down, and the upgrade engagement ring business (American couples are used to change their rings for more expensive ones if their families become more wealthy) has all but dried up. Furthermore, some newly engaged couples are putting off purchasing expensive diamond engagement rings, opting instead to buy less expensive coloured gemstone rings.
Acknowledging that its forecast is conservative, Blue Nile management said that the company’s first quarter “net sales in 2008 are expected to be relatively flat with the similar period of 2007.”
Thus, even high-flyers such as Blue Nile are feeling the impact of retracted consumer spending on luxury items due to general economic environment in 2008, IDEXOnline says.
Rome-based luxury retailer Bulgari S.p.A reported a 12 percent increase in net profits to EUR 150.9 million for 2007. This was due to strong sales growth and a successful hedge against exchange rate and precious metals volatility.
Sales turnover increased 13.6 percent (at comparable exchange rates) to EUR 1.008 billion with jewelry showing the strongest growth of 20 percent to EUR 459.9 million for the year. Watch sales went up by 8.2 percent to EUR 294.8 million.
Bulgari’s European revenues grew 10.2 percent (to EUR 427.3 million), of which Italy made up EUR 141.4 million. Sales in America grew by 21% (to EUR 176.4 million), and in Asia by 14.8% (to EUR 429.3 million).
Bulgari increased its number of stores by 17 during 2007 bringing their total number to 245 by year end, of which 149 were directly owned stores.
“The stability of the margin has been secured thanks to the increasing vertical integration achieved by the group, to the successful measures adopted to increase production efficiency, and to the selling price increases introduced during the year, and despite the negative impact of exchange rates (yen and dollar in particular) and the significant rise in prices of raw materials (mainly gold and precious stones,)” the company stated.
Francesco Trapani, chief executive officer of the company, said Bulgari would continue to develop each of its product categories in 2008 and to make investments “to strengthen the distribution and manufacturing projects.”
“This will have its core in the opening of a new flagship store in Paris, Avenue George V; in the strengthening of our presence in the rest of Asia; in the integration of the recent acquisitions; in the consolidation of the growth in the accessory segment and in the progressive worldwide launch of the women’ skincare line,” Trapani said.
According to his forecast, Bulgari Group expects sales, operating profit and net profit to rise between 8% and 12% in 2008.
Approximately 3,000 foreign traders from 20 countries were reported attending the 45th Annual Gems Emporium in Myanmar on March 9-20.
More than 7,000 lots of jade, 300 lots of gemstones, and 270 lots of pearl have been put on sale at the show, news agency Xinhua reported.
Gem exports from Myanmar have remained strong despite the United States and the European Union implementing economic sanctions against the country due to stable demand from the Far East countries.
The Myanmar government recently announced it would hold a constitutional referendum in May 2008, to be followed by multi-party elections in 2010.
The Diamond Divas Exhibition, opening in Antwerp on April 11, will feature diamond jewellery worn by movie prima donnas Sophia Loren and Monica Bellucci in different periods.
The pieces on display will include a Bulgari diamond necklace and earrings, set with a total of 1,600 diamonds, chosen and worn by Loren for a photo shoot for “Vogue”, as well as the two rings and choker worn by Monica Bellucci in the “Matrix” trilogy (designed by Stephano Canturi, an Australian designer who creates jewellery for the silver screen).
Loren became widely known in the U.S.A. in the 1950s for her films. Belluci, who began her career as a model, became famous after starring in the “Matrix” films and in Mel Gibson’s historical drama “The Passion of the Christ.”
Diamond Divas is the first show where the Bulgari necklace and earrings will go on display outside the U.S.A. and also the first public display of the Canturi jewellery. The show featuring diamond jewellery pieces worn by famous actresses, royals and other high society women is to be held in the Antwerp Diamond Museum from April 11 to June 8, 2008 under the patronage of Belgium’s Princess Mathilde.
