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Did De Beers kick an own goal with their lab diamonds offering?

distracts

Ideal_Rock
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I think they’ve seen the way the tide is turning and are trying to become the biggest competitor in the lab diamond market. If they have significant offerings on both sides, they can’t lose. I know the line is that the lab diamonds are fashion jewelry, but idk how seriously they actually believed that.
 

diamondseeker2006

Super_Ideal_Rock
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I agree that they knew lab diamonds becoming popular was inevitable and they wanted to get in first as a big player. That's my guess anyway. Surprised their profits went down so much, though. I'd be happy if natural diamond prices went down some.

@foxinsox This really belongs in Rocky Talky, and if you ask the admin to move the thread, you might get some good posts from the pros on this topic!
 

Karl_K

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2 agendas really...just my opinion of course....
1: push the message that mmd is for fashion jewelry but it unlikely they will win that one. I dont think they believe they will either.

2: mmd selling at off mined price can be more profitable than cutting mined goods for cutters so they needed to undercut the prices to avoid the risk of losing cutters for mined goods.
 

foxinsox

Ideal_Rock
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I agree that they knew lab diamonds becoming popular was inevitable and they wanted to get in first as a big player. That's my guess anyway. Surprised their profits went down so much, though. I'd be happy if natural diamond prices went down some.

@foxinsox This really belongs in Rocky Talky, and if you ask the admin to move the thread, you might get some good posts from the pros on this topic!
I shall do that thanks - I’m never quite sure where to put threads like this!
 

whitewave

Super_Ideal_Rock
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I think they’ve seen the way the tide is turning and are trying to become the biggest competitor in the lab diamond market. If they have significant offerings on both sides, they can’t lose. I know the line is that the lab diamonds are fashion jewelry, but idk how seriously they actually believed that.

Their offerings right now are terrible IMO. A friend and I discussed how maybe they are tying to kill the lab market with their items for offer.

They are trying to appeal to 20 years olds, but which 20 year olds can afford $800 fashion diamonds? In their IG ads, the young women are wearing thousands of dollars of lab diamonds.

It doesn’t make sense to me.
 

distracts

Ideal_Rock
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Oct 11, 2011
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Their offerings right now are terrible IMO. A friend and I discussed how maybe they are tying to kill the lab market with their items for offer.

They are trying to appeal to 20 years olds, but which 20 year olds can afford $800 fashion diamonds? In their IG ads, the young women are wearing thousands of dollars of lab diamonds.

It doesn’t make sense to me.

I’ve liked a few of their things but they’ve always been the limited things that sell out super fast before I can actually make the decision to buy.
 

lambskin

Ideal_Rock
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I wonder if they will market to the public that due to their long history (quality) (expertise)(image) in the diamond industry that a DeBeers MMD is somehow better made or vetted than MMD from other vendors and will be able to outsell other vendors and /or get a premium price.
 

Johnbt

Shiny_Rock
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If you believe wikipedia, De Beers only controls 35% of the world market for rough diamonds.

"De Beers Group still sells approximately 35%[4] of the world's rough diamond production through its global sightholder and auction sales businesses "

Is De Beers losing sales to the 65% majority? Maybe their loss is unrelated to lab diamonds and it's simply the competition eating their lunch.

It may not be the old De Beers anyway. Maybe the problem has something to do with the new management. "In 2011, Anglo American took control of De Beers after buying the Oppenheimer's family stake of 40 percent for US$5.1 billion (£3.2 billion) and increasing its stake to 85 percent, ending the 80-year Oppenheimer control of the company. "
 

HDer

Brilliant_Rock
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The sooner MMDs were selling for significantly lower prices than mined diamonds, the easier it would be to create a differentiation in consumer's minds.

In that sense, Lightbox did its job. After it came out we did see a pretty steady drop in prices in the sub-carat MMD space.

But maybe MMDs are still not cheap enough.
 
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