#RJIF2024: Consumers seek brands and assurance

Amit Pratihari, Vice President, De Beers Forevermark, informed De Beers Institute of Diamond is open to retailers and manufacturers for diamond certification. Initially built to grade only De Beers Forevermark and De Beers Diamonds, the world-class facility is now extending its service and brand equity to add value to the diamond industry. It also offers De Beers Education, which trains retail employees on how to outperform their diamond story

The journey of natural diamonds from mine to market never ceases to amaze. It has to be narrated correctly, and Amit Pratihari, Vice President,  De Beers Forevermark, discussed certain inspirational ways by which the miner is telling the right story and arming retail partners with the necessary know-how to position natural diamonds in his session  ‘Future of diamonds in the age of modern retail and digital’.

Speaking at the Retail Jeweller India Forum 2024 Pratihari talked of how companies adapt to trends in today’s world of digital communication to create and market better content. “With smartphone integration of most omnichannel or digital-first brands, the task at hand for jewellers is to multiply content across platforms to stay relevant for the same customers.

The domestic consumption of the gems and jewellery category today is nearly $79 billion and will reach $130 billion by 2030. Market highlights have Aditya Birla investing $600 million to work on the blueprint of Novel Jewels. Tanishq, with a topline of $4.5 billion, is aiming for a market cap of $33 billion,” Pratihari said. 

Talking about significant shifts in the retail landscape, he said that consumers are looking for brands, which give them, experience and assurance. In doing so, CRM and loyalty programmes help develop lasting customer relationships, especially for brands with a purpose beyond business growth.

De Beers Institute of Diamonds has state-of-the-art laboratories and melee screening services to aid the assurance of diamond quality. “The laboratory grades super-luxury brands De Beers and De Beers Forevermark and is now open to giving retailers and manufacturers the same world-class grading facility,” he said. Pratihari also discussed Falcon, De Beers Forevermark’s automated clarity grading machine, and Eagle’s automated colour grading machine.

It also provides an education programme to empower sales staff with technical knowledge. “De Beers Education provides an online certification course, which the staff can undertake during recess or after office hours. The programme trains retail staff on how to build their diamond story,” he concluded.  

Then, he led the audience to the De Beers Origin site, which informs about the diamond journey, the character of diamonds, the positive impact on communities and the diamond wallet. As the origin story walked one through the 3.5 billion years of diamond formation, from the rough to the polished stage, the character segment introduced the rarity score, which, beyond cut, colour, clarity, and caratage, becomes customers’ fifth assurance metric. Powered by Tracr, the blockchain technology, De Beers Origin talks of De Beers source of diamonds.