Colored stones
Gemstones have a growing appeal for bridal customers, but they’re still second to diamonds, according to jewelers.
“We are seeing quite a few sapphires for engagement rings, but diamond is still the preferred stone,” says Tamara Toms, certified gemologist appraiser and general manager of Carreras Jewelers in Richmond, Virginia.
Gemstone rings aren’t particularly strong sellers for Russ Varon, co-owner of Morgan’s Jewelers in Torrance, California. “We have made a few gemstone rings,” he says. “We did a light blue sapphire with a sandblasted yellow gold band, and we’ve done a few morganites and pink sapphires. But the diamond business is still strong.”
John Hayes, owner of Goodman’s Jewelers in Madison, Wisconsin, says his store is seeing increased engagement sales in malaya garnets, pink or orange-ish sapphires, soft pink morganite, and blue sapphires, which represent the strongest diamond alternative stones. But it’s not about price, according to Hayes.
“Cost is not so much a factor,” he maintains. “And diamonds are still by far the strongest.” In bridal, his store is still selling about 80% diamond and 20% colored gemstone.
So if cost isn’t the reason, what is? Liz Chatelain, owner of Texas-based consumer research firm MVI Marketing, suggests that while gemstones are often priced lower than similarly sized diamonds, the main gemstone draw is that traditional engagement rings feel tired to some customers.
“People have the white-on-white-on-white stigma in their head now,” she says, referring to the now-traditional white diamond with white metal and a white head. “It’s a factory look, but you show up with a colored stone and that’s unique.”
Yet Jennifer Gandia, owner of Greenwich St. Jewelers in New York, says the bridal industry is still relatively stable, trend-wise. “Even though there are trends in bridal, there’s not a lot of change in bridal,” explains Gandia, whose store specializes in independent designers. “We’ll never be selling more gemstones than diamonds, but the engagement ring customer is looking for more color over the last couple of years because of Instagram and Pinterest.”
Lab-grown diamonds
Another topic that’s been on retailers’ minds is lab-grown stones. However, Toms and Varon say this trend is virtually nonexistent in their regions. Even in New York, Gandia isn’t seeing much demand yet.
“We may have sold one or two lab-grown stones in the past three years, but we don’t really promote them,” she says. “I definitely see that there’s a market for them, and I’m interested in seeing how that develops, but I don’t feel that we need to be an early adopter on that. And personally, when I buy luxury, I want it to have natural beauty.”
Still, that may soon shift as millennials gravitate toward non-mined stones, says Chatelain. “If retailers see that they’re losing business to stores selling lab-grown, they’re going to sell what they have to sell,” she asserts. “And when a retailer has lab-grown stones, or the consumer asks about lab-grown stones, the conversion rate for millennials is about 70%. The reason is that customers can get a bigger look for less money, and millennials don’t have a problem with lab-grown at all.”
Hayes has already seen an uptick in requests for non-mined stones. “There’s a demand both for lab-grown diamonds and lab-grown color for engagement,” he reports. “Most of the time, customers come in asking for it, but we also tell them about it as an option when they ask about price.”
He has seen the trend strengthening, especially since millennials also view synthetics as a more ethical choice. “There’s no conflict in the history [of] lab-grown, and we explain that physically and chemically, they’re exactly the same as a mined stone.”
Hayes also believes the new De Beers synthetics line will help. “With De Beers putting out its own lab-grown program, the fashion side will be much, much stronger, and lab-grown will be more accepted. It’s already accepted among millennials, and that’s who drives the majority of purchases in bridal today, and who we should be marketing to.”
Customization
Even more important than the stone or the provenance, though, is the uniqueness of the piece. That need for something no one else has isn’t new, says Varon. “No matter how much inventory you have, they always want something different. People want a different size or shape or something.”
Toms agrees: “Almost all of our bridal is custom of some kind. If we are lucky, [customers] will choose a semi-mounting from our stock and a diamond that fits perfectly.”
That’s not common, though, she continues. “Usually, they want to change something — metal color, head size, or even subtracting side stones or adding side stones.” Her store also does a fair amount of designing from scratch using clients’ family stones, and either hand-making the setting or using computer-aided design (CAD) before casting. “Because we’re a big estate seller, we do many redesigns of older items,” she explains.
For Gandia, made-to-order jewelry is bigger than ever. “Our custom business, meaning true custom, is up 25% this year, but we also do personalization [of existing designs], and the majority is still personalized.”
Both full custom and personalization are gaining steam because millennials want to be involved in creating a ring that’s important to them, according to Hayes. But not all modification is created equal. When creating pieces from scratch, he says, “I have a sketch, and then a customer looks at our wax model, and then we can make this a truly one-of-a-kind piece, and it’s pure total custom.”
His store also does a fair amount of CAD work, as well as amending existing styles. “I don’t call that custom, though,” he adds. “It’s personalizing, and it’s much more affordable.”
Digital-minded millennials
No matter what the trend, it’s clear millennials are leading the conversation. The best way to communicate with them, says Chatelain, is to be in their community — and that community is online.
“That’s how you get them in the store,” she explains. “Online sales tax is going to kick in [following a recent US Supreme Court ruling], and that’s going to help level the playing field between the small brick-and-mortar stores and the big online stores like Amazon. But a lot of retailers don’t collect information or update it or build a community online. They need to spend at least an hour or two a day to keep that going.”
Hayes, meanwhile, says the only way independents can compete with online companies is by giving customers a hands-on, center-of-attention feeling and service. “I don’t think customers can get that feeling from the internet venues,” he comments. “Blue Nile has some showroom places, but that’s not the same as sitting down with an expert.”
Yet he also believes it’s critical for independent stores to have a digital presence. “You have to be online and have a website that’s mobile-friendly, and you have to be on social media and be proactive about making posts,” he says.
Gandia, whose store has been online since 2006 and e-commerce-ready since 2009, is a strong proponent of mixing digital with brick-and-mortar.
“You have to be where [the customers] are, which is online and on social media,” she states. “You need to hire consultants and marketing agencies and in-house webmasters. And if you don’t, it’ll be curtains, and that’s what happening to a lot of us.”
Solitaires
One of the most unusual engagement trends taking hold now is a resurgence of solitaires.
“We are seeing an uptick in clients wanting just a solitaire diamond ring,” reports Toms. “But we are still selling halos and side stones, too.”
Some are glad for the change. “Halos have definitely, thank god, dropped off,” says Hayes. “People are asking for things that are simpler.”
But solitaires these days aren’t always the traditional six-prong Tiffany look, he continues. “I think the millennials are starting to not be interested in flashy pieces. Simpler, cleaner lines are what they want.”
The style is popular even in fashion-forward New York. “Solitaires are huge right now,” says Gandia. “We have solitaires from all of our designers. It’s really interesting to me how many people in New York City are looking for solitaires,” including ones with large stones. Reflecting on the reasons behind the trend, she wonders if, “for some people, so much turmoil happening in our world makes them not want to take risks on big investments. Maybe with an engagement ring, [choosing a simple solitaire is] about feeling safe.”
Chatelain has a similar take, though with a slightly darker outlook: “When the world is in flux, people look to their jewelry and think, ‘How easy will it be to save that center stone?’ That’s one of the saddest aspects of our industry — that people hope their jewelry is worth something.”
Image: Anita Ko Me You Heart diamond pavé ring, anitako.comArticle from the Rapaport Magazine - August 2018. To subscribe click here.