The first part of this post can be found here.
So, as the years progressed, internet diamond sales grew solidly to what they are today. However, one thing remained certain – jewellery stores weren’t going to disappear. Due to the personal nature of buying a diamond or engagement ring, it turns out that the majority of buyers still buy from a brick and mortar jewellery store, despite paying more for a lesser quality stone.
In order to remain competitive, we carved out a niche selling premium cut diamonds – both from our stock and from overseas. However, the problem of convincing a would be diamond buyer that your diamonds are better cut (and cheaper) than the ones offered in typical retail stores still remained.
To overcome this problem, in February 2007, we introduced a number of measures to “break down the great wall of the internet”. The first measure we introduced was to require only a $150 deposit for our international selection under $10,000. This replaced requiring full payment upfront, which most people simply don’t have the trust in us to do. The second measure was to introduce pictorial information of diamonds, such as ideal-scope images, Firetrace output, microscopic photos as well as videos. With this wealth of information, buyers are presented with an unbiased, easy to view analysis which is unrivalled on any website or any retail store in Australia.
As you can see, over last 10 years, diamond buying has changing enormously. No longer do consumers have to go to their local jewellery store and pick out an engagement ring that looks good in the store, but doesn’t outside. They can now pick a diamond from a huge worldwide selection, from the comfort of their own home, and have it objectively analysed twice – once by a laboratory and again by us.
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