China continues to be the main growth engine for the jewellery industry and the country has seen its diamond jewellery market growing by a compound annual growth rate of 18 percent from 2008 to 2013, released by De Beers in its Insight Report 2014.
Hong Kong Jewellery has talked with Stephen Lussier, executive vice president of marketing of De Beers and chief executive officer of Forevermark to know more about the diamond market trends in China. In 2014, Forevermark continued its business expansion campaign despite the declined GDP and the anti-corruption policy carried out by the central government. Lussier explained: “Comparing to other luxury goods such as wine and luxury watches, diamond business is different. The majority sales take places in the bridal market. With the driving force of emotional reason and the symbol of love, the bridal market goes on regardless of the economy situation.”
“That is why I think our business in China will continue to grow, even when the GDP declines there,” he concluded.
According a Forevermark’s research, 35-point diamonds are selling well in the third-tier cities while 18 to 19-point diamonds are popular in the forth-tier cities. In terms of the average prices of Forevermark diamonds in China, 35-point diamonds are worth about US$2,500 while 15 to 16-point diamonds are sold for around US$1,500. Lussier noted that there remains substantial opportunity for further growth in China. However, consumers are becoming increasingly sophisticated and discerning about products and prices.
Online channel is rapidly increasing its importance for both research and selling diamond jewellery to consumers. O2O business, which combines online retailing and offline stores unveiled new marketing strategy to expand sales channels. According to Lussier, today in Mainland China, 16 percent consumers are interested in purchasing Forevermark diamond. Among them, 90 percent consumers will go to Forevermark’s website and learn about the brand before they buy in the retail store.
“Online channel is a great marketing tool. We need to make use of it in our industry to make sure we keep pace of the fast development,” Lussier commented.
According to the report, Internet is used more frequently in the diamond purchase process by single women. Among them, 40 percent resorting to it are affluent consumers. In addition, mobile usage in China is also growing rapidly. Thus retailers and jewellery brands need to maintain a strong online presence in China.
“Meanwhile, the retail store also brings out value and gives consumers opportunity to look at different diamonds and select the one that is right for them,” Lussier added.
“We want to make sure that each diamond is beautiful enough to have Forevermark inscription, and there are no clouds, no taking away of the brilliance, no broken culet. The symmetry of each angle is right in the position. The girdles are not too thick. For Forevermark diamond, we go beyond 4Cs,” he emphasised.
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