Written by Paula Grineri - Tuesday, November 15, 2022
With its famous campaign “A Diamond is Forever”, launched in the late 1940’s, De Beers transformed the diamond jewellery, from a category afforded by only the most affluent, into a mass-consumed product. A key feature of the marketing strategy was that, while diamond jewellery would almost always be worn by women, the target audience for the campaign was primarily male, and more specifically the men who would be buying diamond jewellery for their fiancées, spouses or other loved ones. It is an approach that over 70 years later fundamentally remains the same, with relatively few shining exceptions. But the world has changed, and along with it, gender-specific conventions and expectations.
Women today are the primary decision makers or influencers when it comes to purchases that affect them directly and jewellery worn by men along with gender-neutral jewellery appear to be the fastest growing categories.
To better understand how the diamond jewellery market is evolving, the
Who are the new Jewellery buyers? How to adapt your marketing strategy? What is the future of Diamond Jewellery? Here is what to remember from this excinting and educational conference.
Starting with engagement rings : for between 70 and 80 years, it was considered the anchor of the market. Economies were cyclical, but through good times and bad, men and women got married, and grooms bought their fiancées and brides jewellery. Despite the recent events with the global pandemic, the purchase of engagement rings has marked a clear increase with 29% growth between 2020 and 2021 for the “Business of Forever” quoting Sally Morrison from De Beers
According to Bérengère Treussard’s experience as a jewellery influencer, “a lot of grooms are in need of advices before buying an engagement ring even if their bride has an idea of what she wants”. It means that “there has been a shift in the decision making of buying an engagement ring with a real need of education or information”.
Even if the engagement ring market still occupies a significant share of diamond jewellery representing about 25% of the diamond jewellery market, the share of purchases made for oneself, for pleasure, has increased in recent years. According to Mina El Hadraoui, “Gifting appears to be the main motivation to buy diamond jewellery, but self-purchase has almost doubled between 2019 and 2021 reaching a third of the market”.
For Bérengère Treussard, “we have noticed for 15 years that more and more women are buying diamond jewellery for themselves. Probably under the influence of designers like
Indeed, “Valérie Messika wanted to put diamond jewellery on the same level as handbags and shoes and make it a fashion accessory that gives style and not just jewellery for eternity. She wanted affordable, easy-to-wear everyday jewellery for dynamic women, especially with her iconic collection: Move! The marketing message is move and go buy a diamond for yourself! You are financially independent, you deserve it!”
Mina El Hadraoui of the NDC confirms that “Women represent the main category of consumers buying diamond jewellery. Their motivations are varied: women want to celebrate themselves whether they succeed or not, they empower themselves by buying a diamond jewel. Moreover, they want to be unique and express themselves through everyday jewellery”.
According to Roberto Coin, “Women have always been the main decision maker; in recent decades, more and more women have become financially independent, gaining the power to buy the jewellery they want”.
Regarding the younger generations, it appears that more and more are considering diamond jewellery as the ideal gift to celebrate birthdays like their 18 or 20 years because of the status and the eternity value to which they refer.
And what about men?
Men have a renewed interest in jewellery and particularly in diamond jewellery. According to Bérengère Treussard, “it's a big trend: we see more and more men wearing diamond jewellery. They are influenced by celebrities and now it's like men are taking responsibility for wearing jewellery in public. We have noticed that they use not only white diamonds but also colored diamonds like brown, champagne and black diamonds as well as different cuts which are not widely used for women (take a look at the mirror diamond pendant necklace designed by Emmanuel Tarpin for example). Now they wear bracelets, earrings or diamond pendants and sometimes as a talisman”.
Getting closer to and listening to the different consumer profiles appears to be essential for all the panelists: given the diversity of consumers and motivations, “you cannot limit yourselves to a single type of communication channel as well as you must know your clients”.
As per the influencer Katerina Perez, “there are new ways of doing marketing: you can advertise jewellery through education, inspiration and style. It is very important to listen to the feedbacks of the market through all your touch points, digital and physical. Educate, inspire and innovate, thing outside the box and do not hesitate to be playful with your marketing campaign as long as it reflects your brand DNA”.
Becoming phygital, broadcasting its messages on a wide variety of channels seems to be essential to reach a wide variety of customer profiles. Social networks make it possible to reach a large audience, especially among the younger generations.
Roberto Coin observes that “younger generations want to express themselves and like to buy from responsible brands. They love lifetime jewellery less, but they want to shop more often at a cheaper price from brands they can trust. They are more focused on green jewellery and know exactly what to buy. They tell their parents and grandparents what to buy: they act as influencers. That is why we have to start our communication with the new generations”.
"We sell dreams and beauty, but it is important to talk about what we are doing behind the scenes with simple messages," says Mina El Hadraoui: "Do you know that the diamond industry protects territories like Paris, London and New York? We are creating a positive impact by giving back and sharing with our local community and partners, empowering women and supporting around 10 million people around the world, which is a huge responsibility.”
Roberto Coin considers that “jewellers must give consumers certainty and communicate transparently about natural diamonds to remain credible. We need to build trust and authenticity”.
Even though diamond jewellery has seen growth over the past decade, it seems that the diamond industry has lagged behind the luxury industry.
According to Mina El Hadraoui, the compound annual growth rate of diamond jewellery is one-third of the luxury accessories’ rate. “Our competitors are other luxury products: luxury bags, travel, high-end catering, etc… The diamond is an authentic, upcycled and luxurious product. It's about emotions: we have to communicate around that”.
Bérengère Treussard adds that "industry has a major role to play: you have to wonder why a woman prefers to buy a plastic bag at 5,000 euros versus a diamond!".
Consumer behavior has been evolving for a long time, the marketing department pays attention to it and tries to communicate around authenticity. Buying motivations evolve and are varied and brands must adapt and multiply communication channels towards phygital communication.
At the same time, it seems that the industry needs the support of its institutions and representatives to pass on to new generations the true value of diamond jewellery.