There is a sense of urgency to promote natural diamonds this holiday season.
With market sentiment notably weak at the start of the fourth quarter, the industry has a glaring need to raise demand for diamond jewelry at the retail level. This would stimulate trading through the rest of the distribution chain, which has experienced heavy declines.
Natural diamonds have lost market share to synthetics, while the trade also faces headwinds from the slowdown in China and US consumer caution resulting from the rise in the cost of living. It seems the industry has intensified its marketing efforts ahead of the US holiday season.
De Beers is collaborating with Signet Jewelers to push natural diamonds, with the clock ticking ahead of its proposed third-quarter rollout. Importantly, their cooperation includes training Signet’s 20,000 sales personnel to talk up natural diamonds.
For its part, the Natural Diamond Council (NDC) has rolled out its “Real. Rare. Responsible” campaign and is partnering with several retail jewelers to use its assets in their promotions.