Palladium
Within a campaign aimed at distributing information on palladium, the Palladium Alliance International (PAI) updated its multi-media trading site. For its visitors LuxuryPalladium.com has developed a new content including instructions and videos, which can be downloaded to work with palladium positioned as a relatively new material for the jewelry industry and advertised by PAI as the “metal of today.” The site allows searching texts, its navigation became easier, there are new galleries of goods and forums; it is compatible with various browsers and mobile devices. PAI’s more deep interaction with technically advanced retailers and consumers will be maintained by a new blog at LuxuryPalladium.BlogSpot.com as well as by the Facebook network pages “Palladium is Now!”
The PAI site is open for all who want to visit it; after free registration users will receive regular electronic information bulletins, advertising offerings, automatic registration for further participation in exclusive contests and new teaching patterns for retail sales.
Rough diamonds
Although such adornments appear to be novelties for many retailers, they are being sold already for decades.
Longtime diamond dealer Joseph Schlussel, for instance, shared with National Jeweler an ad The Diamond Registry ran in the 1970s for a “Back To Nature” rough-diamond ring.
Today, worldwide diamond sales total about $68 billion, according to industry analyst Ken Gassman. Sales of rough-diamond jewelry account for a very small percentage of those sales—he estimates only a few hundred million dollars.
According to Illinois jeweler Jon Migdow, one of the upsides of carrying such a collection is that not many jewelers carry it, so it is hard for consumers to comparison shop on price. And, unlike loose diamonds, rough-diamond jewelry is not defined and priced by the Four C’s. It is a finished product with its own artistic spin.
It is these unique qualities that enable jewelers to make higher margins on rough-diamond jewelry than they can with other products, like loose diamonds, which have become a commodity, Migdow says.
Assistant Buyer Amy Dudzik says that in training the chain’s sales staff on selling the pieces, she points out that rough-diamond jewelry is almost easier to sell than polished. Customers can compare price and stone specifications with diamonds found in the jewelry store down the street or on the Internet. Not so with rough. “It’s unique,” Dudzik says. “No one’s going to have your exact same ring.”
Though its rarity creates a sweet spot for rough-diamond jewelry, it also can become an obstacle to sale, especially among conservative buyers.
Jewelers agree that rough-diamond pieces will hardly be popular in the bridal industry for women, but they can be positioned as fashionable accessories in retail. Also the rough-diamond jewelry market should first of all be targeted at men.
