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Most Retailers Won’t Sell Synthetics Anytime Soon
Sep 4, 2017 8:17 AM
By Rapaport News
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RAPAPORT... More than half of retailers will not sell synthetic diamonds
in the coming year, according to the results of a survey by the Diamond
Producers Association (DPA).
Some 61% of retailers who took part in the survey said they would
“absolutely not” sell synthetics over the next 12 months, the DPA said.
“There’s growing awareness [in the industry] that you need
to be careful before you embrace the synthetic-diamond category — that you do
it in a way that will not impact your high-value natural-diamond business,” said
Jean-Marc Lieberherr, CEO of the diamond marketing organization.
The research, which 360 Market Reach carried out on behalf
of the DPA in June, looked at the opinions of 250 sales associates, jewelers
and sales managers at chains and independents. Of those who said they would not
sell synthetics, 45% feared stocking lab-grown diamonds would hurt their store’s
reputation, while 36% cited a
lack of consumer interest. Some 25% were concerned about lowering the average
value of customer transactions.
Those who participated
in the survey generally had strong awareness of synthetics but shaky knowledge
of how they are made, the DPA said. Many did not know it only takes a few weeks
to culture a diamond, it added.
For more details, see the September issue of Rapaport
Magazine.
Image: DedMityay/Shutterstock
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Tags:
360 Market Reach, Diamond Producers Association, Dpa, Jean-Marc Lieberherr, lab-grown diamonds, Rapaport Magazine, Rapaport News, Synthetics
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