Dominion Launches CanadaMark B2B Trading Platform

Jun 2, 2015 11:21 AM By Avi Krawitz

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RAPAPORT... Dominion Diamond Corporation launched its online trading platform for CanadaMark diamonds during the JCK Vegas show.

“The platform was developed at the request of many retailers who would say to us that they were looking for CanadaMark goods but couldn’t find them,” James Pounds told Rapaport News. “So, we developed this business-to-business (B2B) platform to accommodate the sizeable number of requests at the retail level.”

Dominion acquired the CanadaMark as part of its 2013 acquisition of the Ekati mine from BHP Billiton, which initially developed the hallmark. Dominion relaunched the hallmark at last year’s JCK Vegas show, providing a guarantee that the diamonds were responsibly mined in Canada, either at Ekati or the Diavik mine of which the company owns a 40 percent stake.

Pounds reported that awareness about the CanadaMark has grown since the company launched earlier this year its marketing campaign and educational programs targeting millennial consumers in the U.S. and Canada, largely through social media channels.

Much of the messaging stresses that diamonds from Canada are ethically sourced and produced according to socially responsible practices and in an environmentally friendly manner. Pounds added that the next phase will be to launch the hallmark in the U.K., Australia, Japan and China, although Dominion has not yet decided on a schedule for such a roll out.

“Consumer confidence is at the center of our business,” he explained. “We’ve got to do everything to ensure that consumers can walk out of the store with full confidence that they have a beautiful, natural diamond.”

Dominion currently has 15 diamond manufacturers that are in the CanadaMark program and approximately 2,500 diamonds per day being certified with the hallmark. Polished diamonds above 0.30 carats are commercially best suited for the CanadaMark, while quality standards are set to include I2 and better clarities and M and better colors.

Tags: Avi Krawitz, Canada, CanadaMark, diamonds, Dominion, jewellery, Jewelry, Rapaport