De Beers’ Stephen Lussier on Forevermark and Lightbox

Man-made stones

Moderators: PinkDiamond, John

Post Reply
User avatar
PinkDiamond
Posts: 15411
Joined: Thu Jun 04, 2015 9:30 pm
Location: Ozark Mountains

De Beers’ Stephen Lussier on Forevermark and Lightbox

Post by PinkDiamond »

This one answers some interesting questions put to a DeBeers' exec, some of which were in the back of my mind, and maybe yours. :)

De Beers’ Stephen Lussier on Forevermark and Lightbox
May 31, 2019 by Rob Bates

Image

"Stephen Lussier (pictured), the veteran De Beers executive who now chairs its newly formed consumer products division (which consists of Forevermark, De Beers Diamond Jewelers, and lab-grown line Lightbox) as well as the Diamond Producers Association (DPA), spoke to JCK following the Forevermark breakfast at JCK Las Vegas on May 30, which included a speech by Botswana’s first lady, Neo Masisi.

Here, he talks about how the bridal jewelry market is changing, why De Beers is hosting Botswana’s first couple, and Lightbox’s real purpose—and its future.

JCK: At this morning’s breakfast, you introduced a new line of Forevermark bridal jewelry, which, in something of a shift, Forevermark will manufacture itself. What made you take that step?

Stephen Lussier: It recognizes that the bridal market is changing, and the bridal consumer is changing. The way in which you need consumers to think about the significance of the diamond is different. Historically, people thought about a diamond at the beginning of your commitment relationship. Now, you are generally not. There’s a lot of other steps along the way that already show commitment—whether it’s buying a pet, or living together, or you have the house. As a result of that, the diamond can seem less important. What our research shows us is that, actually, when people have been married for five years, the diamond is more important, but that’s over time, and it’s not in their minds in the beginning. So you need to work hard in the way you make them understand this is something that is going to be important to them. And that’s a different communication task.

Why we’re doing the collection is, consumers are increasingly engaged in the sector through the lens of brands, because the way they get their information now is through digital media, and digital media is a very brand-driven environment. And they expect to engage with us on the whole piece, not just the diamond. We still sell loose diamonds for engagement, we have manufacturers and jewelers creating their own pieces. But to compete effectively in an omnichannel environment, you need to control that interaction with the consumer.

How is that reflected in the advertising?

The campaign is designed to get people to understand that a diamond is going to play a role in their whole life. If you look at historic diamond advertising, it’s all focused on that extraordinary moment where a man asks a woman to marry him. The reality is, for most people, that moment isn’t what it was, and what you need to make people understand is the role the diamond will play in their life. In the new advertising, we show not only engaged couples, but people who have been married for 50 years, and how the diamond is still part of their life. That changes the way people think about it, and it raises the priority of the diamond in their list of expenditures.

People, particularly the millennials, are under financial stress. In some cases, they already have children. To get them to prioritize the importance of it, you need to get them to think about it as a lifelong joy creator for them.

Image
Forevermark Center of My Universe Floral diamond engagement ring in 18k rose gold

How are sales of Lightbox? Are the plans still the same?

We are pleased with how it’s going. We are selling mostly the blues and the pinks, which is by design. We have constraints on production capacity until our new plant is up and running in Oregon next year. As soon as that is up and running, then we have the capacity to move beyond our e-commerce platform, which I know jewelers are interested in. But we want to have sufficient capacity to meet that demand.

Would Lightbox ever do a private label for lab-growns?

At this point, we are still focused on the brand, because we are selling all the production we have, so until we have our new facility there is not much option. Our focus is expanding the designs and variety and making sure we work out what are the winners. We want to keep working on getting the costs down, because the lower the price, the bigger the market opportunity is. That is where we think differently than the other [lab-grown companies], who are looking at how they can make short-term money at something that is, in our view, not sustainable. Which is fine, they want to pay their investors back. For De Beers Group, we will have to be here for a long time, we are focused on where we think the longer-term sustainable market is for lab-grown, which will be in the lower-value pieces, where the diamond doesn’t have an inherent value, and you are buying it because it looks pretty. There’s nothing wrong with that. There’s a huge market for things that look pretty and don’t cost too much.

Doesn’t that cannibalize the lower end of the market?

Not significantly. We are selling in a category where it’s competing largely with non-diamond jewelry. If you look at the jewelry market below $500, the diamond share is in low single digits. If you go above $1,000, you have a higher diamond jewelry share. To the degree that we can get lab-grown competing below $500, you are actually in a different market segment from a diamond perspective, and there is minimal cannibalization.

It will affect some of the semiprecious, the low-end colored stones. But at the end of the market it’s mostly color.

Is the goal of Lightbox to lower the price of lab-growns?

No, I would say the strategic aim is to ... "

https://www.jckonline.com/editorial-art ... -334329457
PinkDiamond
ISG Registered Gemologist


· ´¨¨)) -:¦:-¸.·´ .·´¨¨))
((¸¸.·´ ..·´ There are miracles left for you to do .... -:¦:- -:¦:-
-:¦:- ((¸¸.·´* It all begins inside of you. ;)
Post Reply