De Beers’ Lab-Grown Diamond Brand Moves Into 28 More Stores

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De Beers’ Lab-Grown Diamond Brand Moves Into 28 More Stores

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DeBeers is rapidly expanding their synthetic Lightbox diamonds and pretty soon they'll be available all across the US. I'm also adding a related article from 2018 that talks about consumers' reactions to the new line, and the questions they have about them that I searched the forum for, but didn't see posted, so I'm posting both articles here. :)

De Beers’ Lab-Grown Diamond Brand Moves Into 28 More Stores
By Michelle Graff
michelle.graff@nationaljeweler.com
October 7, 2020


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Three pairs of earrings set with pink, blue and white lab-grown diamonds from Lightbox. The De Beers-owned brand is expanding into 28 more brick-and-mortar stores, mainly in the Midwest.

"New York—A year after its launch into brick-and-mortar stores, De Beers Group’s lab-grown diamond brand is expanding into 28 more stores owned by 10 different jewelers.

Lightbox announced the expansion of its wholesale distribution network on Friday, one that will bring the brand’s retail footprint to almost 90 stores in the United States and Canada.

Nineteen of the 28 stores being added are spread out among four Midwest jewelers: Riddle’s Jewelry, the Diamond Cellar, Harris Jewelers, and Wisconsin’s The Jewelry Center.

Six stores in Northern California will carry Lightbox: four DeVons Jewelers, as well as Geoffrey’s Diamonds and Goldsmith, and Padis Jewelers, whose owners also operate the first and only Forevermark boutique in the U.S.

The other three stores that will begin selling the lab-grown diamond brand are Bailey’s Fine Jewelry in North Carolina, the Reeds Jewelers store in Niagara Falls, New York (owned by Amherst, New York-based Reeds/Jenss) and IJL in Canada.

“We are excited to expand our wholesale offering in the U.S. and Canada through independent retail, as it has been a key part of our strategy from the beginning,” said Nick Smart, the brand’s commercial director.

“These stores have developed strong local connections with their communities, and we very much want to be a part of that.”

When asked about additional wholesale expansion, Lightbox said it is “actively looking to grow” and is in discussions with more jewelers for possible spring 2021 launches.

De Beers launched Lightbox in May 2018, starting with online-only sales direct to consumers.

In October 2019, Lightbox’s wholesale trial run started with Wilmington, North Carolina-based Reeds Jewelers Inc. and Bloomingdale’s.

Today, the lab-grown diamond brand is in a total of 87 stores: the 28 stores mentioned above, as well as 56 Reeds stores and three Bloomingdale’s locations, including the flagship store on 59th Street in New York City.

Currently, De Beers grows the diamonds it uses for Lightbox jewelry at the Element Six facility in the United Kingdom while its U.S. factory is under construction.

That facility, located in ... '

https://www.nationaljeweler.com/majors/ ... ore-stores


Consumers Saw Lightbox. Here’s What They Wanted to Know

By Michelle Graff
michelle.graff@nationaljeweler.com
November 29, 2018


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Lightbox, the lab-grown diamond line from De Beers that began selling online in September, opened its pop-up shop Monday at the Oculus, the transit hub at the rebuilt World Trade Center site in New York. The pop-up will be in place through Sunday.

"New York—De Beers used to spread the message that “A Diamond Is Forever” around Grand Central Station at holiday time, appealing to the 750,000+ commuters crisscrossing the classic transit hub every day.

This year, the diamond miner and marketer is at it again, but now its promoting lab-grown diamonds at the Oculus, the two-year-old, ultra-modern transit hub at the site of the rebuilt World Trade Center.

Call it a sign of the times.

Back in September De Beers launched Lightbox, a line of moderately priced (the most expensive pieces on the site, 1-carat diamonds set in 10-karat gold, are $1,000) fashion jewelry set with man-made diamonds grown by its Element Six arm in the United Kingdom.

The line is fairly limited at this point—just blue, pink and white lab-grown diamonds set in either pendants or earrings, with blue and pink studs the runaway successes so far, said Lightbox Head of Marketing Sally Morrison.

It is sold online only, which means consumers haven’t had a chance to see, touch and feel it—until this week.

On Monday, Lightbox opened a pop-up shop at the Oculus, and this editor popped by Tuesday afternoon around 3:30, shortly before evening rush hour was in full effect, and lingered until a little after 5.

What became apparent in that time is this: Consumers are drawn in when they see something sparkly.

There was a constant stream of people in and out of the 20’ x 20’ structure the entire time.

But they don’t know as much about lab-grown diamonds as many in the trade might think, and there is confusion about how man-made diamonds differ from simulants.

“I’m intrigued. I’ve never heard of this before,” one woman wearing natural diamond stud earrings said as she entered the Lightbox space.

After the product and pricing was explained to her—it starts at $200 for a quarter carat and goes up to $800 for 1 carat, plus the cost of the setting—she seemed to like the idea, noting that lab-grown diamonds are “an accessible way to be able to give people a diamond.”

Multiple customers asked about the difference between lab-grown diamonds and CZ, and between the stones and another diamond simulant, moissanite, echoing the comments consumers made when National Jeweler conducted an informal poll on lab-grown diamonds four years ago.

There were also a lot of questions about how the quality of lab-grown diamonds compare to mined diamonds. (De Beers is not grading its lab-grown diamonds because the stones are “created to uniform specifications” and so reports “have no bearing on either the product’s rarity or value,” it has said.)

“There’s a lot of education to do, not just about our product but the category in general,” Morrison said Tuesday afternoon in an interview at the Lightbox booth. “There’s a lot of confusion.”

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De Beers’ Lightbox line is being introduced with blue, pink and white man-made diamond pendants and earrings in silver or 10-karat white or rose gold. Prices range from $200 for a quarter carat to $800 for 1 carat, plus the cost of the setting.

Morrison and her team—many of whom were clad in on-brand blue and pink sweaters—are learning that first-hand while manning the pop-up, which is set to remain open through Sunday.

Like the Blue Nile “webrooms,” the Lightbox pop-up is not selling the product it’s showing; customers cannot walk out with a little box of jewelry in their hands.

They can, however, order jewelry from an iPad set up in the left-front corner of the pop-up, or shop on the brand’s website after they leave.

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A camera is mounted on the back of the Lightbox pop-up so passers-by can see themselves on the big screen. It also is lined with benches where commuters can take a rest and even charge their phones.

De Beers announced just before the Las Vegas jewelry trade shows it would begin selling lab-grown diamonds, sparking a flurry of commentary in the industry.

Some applauded the move, claiming that the current crop of companies selling man-made diamonds are overcharging and De Beers’ pricing model would serve as a regulator.

Some existing sellers of lab-grown diamonds accused De Beers of predatory pricing, while retailers worried how Lightbox would impact sales of lower-end diamond fashion jewelry in their stores and bemoaned the addition of another supplier selling direct to the public.

The company has said it will make Lightbox available to brick-and-mortar jewelers in the future.

Morrison said Tuesday a brick-and-mortar test run is planned for 2019, though De Beers has not yet decided which retailers will carry the line.

In the meantime, the man-made diamonds continue to move online and Morrison is not ruling out the possibility of ... "

https://www.nationaljeweler.com/majors/ ... ed-to-know
PinkDiamond
ISG Registered Gemologist


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