Rob Bates – Yes, There Really is a “New Normal”

Published on: September 15th, 2011

In his annual address at JCK where he discussed “The New Normal,” Martin Rapaport’s advice to retail jewelers was to “sell diamonds to rich people.” In a world of diamond-encrusted iPhones and iPads, a $3.8 million dollar diamond purse, and a $43 million diamond ring made entirely out of diamond, Rapaport’s advice isn’t so shocking.

High-end jewelers like Harry Winston are limiting U.S. expansion to capitalize on China’s burgeoning billionaire class. “We decided this year to put 100% of the capital investment in building new stores for Harry Winston into China,” said Harry Winston CEO Frederic de Narp in a CNN interview.

Conversely, big name designers are targeting U.S. middle class jewelry consumers with lower priced lines. Neil Lane for Kay’s, Vera Wang for Zales, Temple St. Clair for Target-the list goes on.

So what is this “new normal?” JCK’s Rob Bates discusses in his latest Cutting Remarks blog. Read on at JCK.

JCK’s Rob Bates – Yes, There Really is a “New Normal”

Some points that seem to show that the U.S. is really in a “new normal,” as least as far as consumer spending goes:

– For a while, we had an interesting phenomenon in this country, one which served this industry very well: People who weren’t rich, but acted like they were.