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At the lightbox jewelry New York Christmas pop-up store, the price of $800 for a carat of diamond is really heartwarming, except that it is not a natural diamond, but a laboratory-grown man-made diamond. Man-made diamonds have the same physical and chemical properties as natural diamonds, so they are not fake diamonds, but have a different "growth" trajectory. Man-made diamond technology has been widely used in industry since the 1950s, and it was not until the last 5 years that it was used in the field of jewelry accessories, and gemensis Diamond Company has produced type iia diamonds that even reach the top color of natural diamonds. A Morgan Stanley report notes that the technology of man-made diamonds is mature enough to rival the texture and color of natural diamonds, while the price is only 30% to 40% of the latter.
The lightbox jewelry that stormed this emerging market did not come from Internet venture capital, but from De Beers, the largest diamond miner in the traditional market. More than half of the world's diamond supply is monopolized by the big four diamond manufacturers, in addition to the largest De Beers Group, but also Russia's Elosa, Rio Tinto Diamond Company and Canadian listed company Dominion Diamond Corporation. They sell rough to a small group of select customers, while traders in the secondary market will basically do business based on the pricing of the "primary market" above.
In 2016, De Beers, which was aware of the impact of man-made diamonds on the traditional diamond market, together with the Diamond Producers Association, announced at the jck trade show in Las Vegas, USA, that "real is rare. real is diamond)", this new slogan. Jean-Marc Limber, president of the Global Diamond Manufacturers Association, said: "Millennials are surrounded by things that have a lifespan of only 6 months, digital mobile phones, virtual links, etc. That's the world they live in, but not the world they as a social person should be obsessed with, and we need something that really exists. "The slogan was changed for fear that too many ceremonies and symbols would drive the maverick customer base away from the diamond." What could be more fascinating than the history of the human species? ”
Remember the phrase "a diamond is forever" made diamonds and love synonymous, and made people fantasize about the romantic scene of giving or receiving a diamond ring on Valentine's Day. From 1939 to 1979, sales of De Beers diamonds in the United States grew from $23 million to more than two billion. Considering the countless negative news about mining like the harsh working environment over the years, diamonds have captured the hearts of brides-to-be. As Marilyn Monroe sang in the Hollywood musical "Willing to Marry the Golden Turtle," Diamond became a woman's best friend. However, this slogan, which has been hailed as a classic of the century, is no longer applicable.
On the one hand, it's not just diamonds that say "eternity" satisfies the conditions. Ashley Wallace, an analyst at Merrill Lynch, believes millennials don't like being told what to choose for marriage and are "more value-for-money, environmentally friendly and ethical." They prefer unique, personalized products and experiences to high-volume standardized production. "Therefore, many young people no longer stick to natural diamond rings when choosing engagement rings, some people will buy gemstone rings, and many people will choose man-made diamonds because of price advantages."
On the other hand, people's reasons for buying diamonds have changed. Consumer demand for diamonds has changed from the initial wedding needs to image matching, and buying diamonds is no longer for love but for self-reward. The shift in women's roles has spawned new demand for diamond jewelry, with data showing that 70 percent of Diamond Consumption in China comes from young women between the ages of 18 and 34, well above other major diamond consumer markets such as the United States, Japan and India. Younger consumers prefer individual diamond jewelry than the previous generation's love of jade and gold.
Just like 70 years ago, the giants of the diamond industry wanted to change the situation with another round of marketing strategies. In order to draw a line with man-made diamonds, while proposing the new slogan of "authenticity is rare", iidgr International Diamond Grading and Research Institute began to provide diamond grading services to ordinary consumers, which can provide certificates for natural diamonds of any size, color, shape and quality that have not been artificially treated. After all, man-made diamonds that are enough to be chaotic must be identified with the help of professional instruments, which reduces the ability of man-made diamonds to confuse the market price of natural diamonds and gives each "real is rare" natural diamond a unique "identity".
The new slogan returns to the essence of diamonds, where scarcity is the most important aspect of value, without which there is no way to talk about value. It seems that "true" and false are opposites, but in fact, there is no intention of rejecting artificial diamonds, and even think that the two can coexist harmoniously. However, when the new slogan was launched, De Beers and the Global Diamond Manufacturers Association really did not expect that the market for man-made diamonds would develop so rapidly. Analysts at Citibank expect that while man-made diamonds currently account for only 2 percent of the diamond industry's supply, they could grow to 10 percent by 2030. Positioned as a consumable fashion jewelry, lightbox "grows" more colored diamonds in the laboratory, such as pink diamonds and blue diamonds, to meet people's demand for beautiful color jewelry. It was De Beers' swift response to a market that had been ignited by consumer curiosity and took the initiative to set a price benchmark for the chaotic early stage of man-made diamonds.
However, De Beers CEO Bruce Clover also said, "We don't rate our lab-grown diamonds because they shouldn't be graded, they're all the same." At the same time, he firmly believes that man-made diamonds will never replace natural diamonds at the core of the Group's business, and the investment in the direction of artificial diamonds is dwarfed by other businesses. Consumers can choose to buy man-made or natural diamonds for any reason, but there is one misunderstanding that needs to be corrected: man-made diamonds are not more environmentally friendly than natural diamonds, and natural diamonds mined based on ethical standards are comparable to the carbon emissions of man-made diamonds.
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