Unlocking Success: How To Integrate Lab-Grown Diamonds Into Your Jewelry Assortment
Essential strategies for maximizing market potential and brand integrity
As jewelry companies chart their course into the future, they face a pivotal decision: Should we integrate lab-grown diamonds into our assortments to align with rapidly evolving consumer preferences and capitalize on emerging market trends, or should we redirect our focus to other strategic priorities?
A lab-grown fine jewelry assortment is a worthy investment, but only if your assortment is strategic
I believe integrating lab-grown diamonds can be transformative, but it demands a strategic approach to realize its full potential. Drawing on my experience at Blue Nile and comprehensive industry research, I will provide the essential strategies and insights needed to effectively capitalize on this opportunity and drive meaningful growth.
First, let’s address three critical factors that are reshaping the market landscape according to the leading experts:
Paul Zimnisky, a leading diamond analyst, highlights that lab-grown diamond prices have significantly dropped since 2015, now being 75-90% lower than natural diamonds due to their increased availability. Investing in lab-grown diamond jewelry assortment offers great potential, but requires a well-crafted strategy.
To navigate this trend effectively, the first step in building your strategy is to partner with your planning team to set optimal inventory levels and adopt a conservative buying approach that aligns with decreasing costs and evolving consumer preferences.
A lab-grown jewelry assortment will need a unique voice
To stand out in the growing lab-grown market, the second step in building your strategy is that your assortment must have a distinctive and unique voice. With lab-grown diamonds now representing 20% of the global market—up from nearly 0% in 2015—there is a valuable opportunity for your company to enter this segment. However, it is essential to take a strategic approach to maintain the brand’s integrity. By offering a well-curated lab-grown assortment, you can attract new customer segments and effectively engage your existing lab-grown clientele. Make sure to implement these 3 crucial insights into your strategy to ensure success:
The lab-grown jewelry assortment should not jeopardize natural offering
It should be fashion-focused
Offering pieces and price points as attainable as possible
Take a playbook from companies like Mejuri, Pandora, Kendra Scott, and Jennifer Fisher, who have successfully introduced their unique lab-grown assortments, and focus your new assortment on fashion-forward pieces to attract a new customer segment and differentiate yourself from the competition.
A successful assortment is built on a collaborative partnership
To round out your strategy, remember that teamwork makes the dream work. Collaborate closely with key teams throughout the development process to ensure success.
Partner with the Planning to build a strategic line plan and buy
Collaborate with Product Development and Production to develop, source, cost assortment, and place production
Work closely with Creative, Marketing, Retail, and E-commerce to strategize collections, digital assets and store executions
Hold weekly meetings to ensure alignment on digital assets and marketing campaigns across the website, emails, social media, and in-store promotions
Post-mortem with all teams to analyze the results of the assortment
Monitor weekly selling and provide insights and opportunities
Chase into additional merchandise and launch new styles based on
successes
Determine exit strategy for slow-selling items
In conclusion, to effectively capitalize on this opportunity, your company needs a strategic approach. This includes creating a distinctive and unique assortment that upholds your brand’s integrity, fostering strong collaboration across teams, and continuously monitoring the assortment to ensure success and adapt to market changes.
What’s your next big move to shine brightly in the lab-grown diamond market?
I offer expert consulting services in merchandising strategies. If you’re interested in learning more, click here.