RAPAPORT... The 4Cs are not the only things that make a piece of diamond jewelry a sales winner. In an ongoing series, RDR explores the “3Ws” — what’s selling, what’s not and why — by going straight to the people who really know — jewelry retailers. Each month, we ask a sampling of retailers to comment on the important issues that are facing the industry today. Here is what they had to say when asked: What diamond shapes or branded cuts are most popular with your customers?
GRETCHEN BRAUNSCHWEIGER, CO-OWNER, BRAUNSCHWEIGER JEWELERS, MORRISTOWN, NEW JERSEY: “Certainly in shapes, round is still, by far and away, ahead of everything else. We do get some calls for things like Asscher cuts, which is kind of an odd shape. And still some people do the ovals in the three-stone rings. That’s really about it. We don’t have any branded diamonds in the store — no Hearts on Fire or anything like that. Marquise is completely dead. The rest are sort of occasional — the occasional pear shape, the occasional emerald cut, but it’s not a huge area.”
KATHY COREY, CO-OWNER/VICE PRESIDENT OF MERCHANDISING, DAY’S JEWELERS,WATERVILLE, MAINE: “I think the most popular shape being asked for is the princess cut or any variation of a square-shaped diamond; princess and radiants, primarily. Although typically, when it comes to our ratio of round diamond sales to princess cut sales, rounds are still outselling princess cuts by probably about 20 percent. But princess is the second-most popular choice in the cut of diamond.
“We do sell branded diamonds and our premium cut diamond is an 88-faceted diamond called the Biro 88. It is an ideal cut diamond that we have an exclusive on. The great thing with the Biro 88 is that it is extremely price competitive — about 20 percent less than other similar branded diamonds, such as the Leo diamond. It has an extremely brilliant cut. We provide a GemEx™ report with it. And we’ve generated a really nice business with that. We also sell Lazare Kaplan in one of our six stores. That’s more of a market-driven product versus a company-driven product.”
MARK AREIAS, PRESIDENT, MARK AREIAS JEWELERS, CARMEL, CALIFORNIA: “Cushion cuts are the top cut we sell; radiants are second. We don’t sell branded cuts.
“There’s very little interest in rounds for new purchases. I was just in Antwerp and I had absolutely no interest to look at anything round for buying. All the interest is in squares, from the square emerald or Asscher cut to the cushion to the radiant. Our client is generally looking at 2- to 3-carat diamonds and above, so we aren’t so strong in the 1-carat range, which may be where there’s more activity in the rounds and so forth.”
HARTON WOLF, DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS, HENNE JEWELERS, PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA: “It’s interesting; rounds are still certainly the number one stone. We seem to have interest in emerald cuts and square brilliant-type stones, not necessarily princess cuts, but more of the radiant — either the square radiant or the radiant. The cushion also has generated some very good interest. But these are all squarish or rectangular stones. In the past six months to a year, we’ve seen strength in these other shapes. We don’t sell branded diamonds.”
MARC SOLOMON, VICE PRESIDENT, SOLOMONS FINE JEWELRY, PLAINVIEW, NEW YORK: “The answer is: emerald, emerald and radiant. Emeralds, radiants, princesses — that’s the biggest for us. Also, we have become a Lady Heart dealer. Lady Heart is a heart-shaped stone made of three stones put together to form the heart. We’re doing very nicely with that because it gives the scintillation of light back to a shape that, if cut on its own, would not have the ability to shine. When it is together and the light hits it, it is the most brilliant thing, and it really, really pops. I’m also doing some fancy shapes; I have a spectacular $100,000 necklace of oval, natural yellow fancy diamonds with round diamonds around it, with marquises separating them. It’s a lot of shapes and absolutely gorgeous.
“I would say round will always be number one. The classic round brilliant will sell forever and ever and ever. And we’re Hearts on Fire dealers — their round brilliant, of course, is a triple-zero cut; an ideal, beautiful, magnificent cut. So that tried-and-true is our number one seller. Underneath it, this year, is square; square is definitely number two, whether it’s a square princess, radiant or lightly rectangular emeralds. Even Hearts on Fire cuts a square top, round back stone called a Dream Cut that is spectacular. The amount of scintillation that comes off the stone allows the seven colors of the rainbow to come through. The marquise and pear, however, are dead at Solomons.”
TOM FEY, OWNER, FEY & COMPANY, NAPERVILLE, ILLINOIS: “I do know that fancy shapes are selling much better than they have been. Pear shapes are selling well in pendants. We also see that what’s popular is fairly variable. There was a period of time where we had a lot of calls for Asschers, and then nothing. Demand has remained for cushions, but marquises are pretty done. And, of course, the round brilliant is still the bread-and-butter shape.”
Article from the Rapaport Magazine - April 2007. To subscribe click here.