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Market Developments
Retailers: Consumers still warming to Forevermark
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New York--Heading into this just-past holiday season, Forevermark-authorized retailers tell National Jeweler that they held moderate expectations for the De Beers’ new-to-the-U.S. branded diamond.
It is, after all, the new name in a market crowded with brands that was introduced shortly before the busy holiday season. There is Hearts on Fire, “The World’s Most Perfectly Cut Diamond,” Lazare Kaplan, “The world’s most beautiful diamond,” and now Forevermark, “The world’s most carefully selected diamonds.”
“I would categorize it in the way they (sales) are with most startups,” said Harvey Rovinsky, owner of Bernie Robbins Fine Jewelry in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, when asked about Forevermark’s holiday performance. “It takes a while to gain traction and, in the moment, we’re in the process of gaining traction.”
“If you ask me next year, I expect to have a totally different perspective and response.”
Forevermark’s national advertising campaign is still “fresh,” and consumers are learning about the brand as they come into the Bernie Robbins stores.
“There’s not a great deal of market awareness in my area right now,” Rovinsky said.
The same held true for Windsor Fine Jewelers in Augusta, Ga., said general manager Michael Zibman, who said the store didn’t have high expectations for Forevermark this holiday season and was “comfortable” with how it performed.
“We’re in more of a secondary market. We felt it was going to hit more in some of the bigger markets. It doesn’t necessarily click in this market right away,” he said.
He maintains that the brand was worth the investment, which is $10,000 per year per store, particularly given De Beers’ past marketing success, including the iconic “A Diamond Is Forever” slogan, three-stone jewelry and Journey.
“There have been many great successes and some not-so-great results,” Zibman observed. “But I feel certainly that they have had more success than not.”
He also cites the control De Beers is exercising over Forevermark, which is handled by a limited number of diamond companies and manufacturers and sold through authorized retailers only, as another strong point of the program. He said the controls were not as strict in De Beers’ last program, Everlon.
This resulted in the jewelry ending up in discount-store circulars next to advertisements for toilet paper and Tide, a result that did not please many independent retailers.
“The controls are different and much better in Forevermark,” Zibman said.
The Forevermark holiday campaign focused on print advertisements, such as the one pictured here, as well as the digital space.
A few of the jewelers interviewed mentioned the responsible sourcing aspect of Forevermark--the stones are essentially traced from mine to market and guaranteed as conflict-free--as a draw for their customers.
“I think it is,” said Prentice Johnson, general manager of the Cumberland Diamond Exchange in Smyrna, Ga., when asked if the origin of the product is becoming more of a concern among consumers. “They obviously are more educated. They shop online and then they narrow it down to a few places they actually visit. I think people are becoming more aware of things like responsible sourcing.”
He said while they didn’t really have expectations for Forevermark because it is a new brand, sales were “OK” over the holiday season. He adds that Forevermark is not a “quick campaign” but rather is a brand being built for longevity.
De Beers, apparently, sees the brand that way, too. According to an announcement made last week by Malkin Properties, Forevermark U.S. Inc. signed a lease through 2017 for 6,000 square feet of office space at First Stamford Place in Connecticut.
“I think it will take some time,” Johnson said.
As CEO of Day’s Jewelers in New England, Jeff Corey gravitates toward fair-trade diamonds.
“I fear for the future of diamonds,” he said.
With a new generation of engagement ring shoppers coming of age, he said he would hate to see all the negative publicity about diamonds, including the recent problems in Zimbabwe, push buying a diamond engagement ring into cultural obscurity.
“It gives that guy an excuse to say, or that girl to say, ‘I don’t want a diamond,’” he said. “It’s very important for the industry to come together and show that diamonds are bringing good things to the people of the world.”
Corey said he sees Forevermark as the next evolution of the Motiganz Diamond Group’s “Made in Botswana” brand, which his store no longer carries. While that brand didn’t last due to the difficulty of sourcing every single stone to mines in Botswana only, he believes that De Beers won’t have the same problem verifying the mine-to-market chain of each of its Forevermark stones.
“I have a great deal of confidence in De Beers, in what they say,” Corey said. “They have a reputation that they value--it is their value--and they would do nothing to compromise that reputation.”
He said while it was difficult to anticipate how Forevermark would perform over the holiday season, sales exceeded what expectations he did have. “We’re very pleased with our sales and the consumer reaction to Forevermark over the past couple of months,” he said.
At Calhoun Jewelers in Royersford, Pa., jeweler Cathy Calhoun said she is looking to the next major jewelry-gifting holiday, Valentine’s Day, to make a splash with Forevermark. She said the line fell short of her expectations for Christmas.
“It was just too late to be rolled out. I think because it was late it didn’t perform like I expected. Part of that was my fault because I didn’t have time to concentrate on it either,” she said. “If it didn’t do OK I will take the blame because I couldn’t spend the time with it that I should with a new brand.”
When asked about the brand’s official U.S. launch date in an interview conducted in May, Forevermark CEO Stephen Lussier said, “I’ve been careful with the (Forevermark U.S.) team telling them that...whether we start in 2011 or 2012, in the long view of history, is not going to be very important. This isn’t a one-year promotion. This is our long-term marketing tool for the world. It’s more important to get it right than to get it quick.”
However, Charles Stanley, who heads Forevermark in the United States, said in a later interview clarifying Lussier’s remarks that the brand “definitely” would launch in the U.S. market in the fourth quarter.
Calhoun said her employees are in the habit of selling other branded diamonds, such as Lazare Kaplan and Hearts on Fire, and tended to fall back on these lines when showing customers product.
“It’s easier for them to go right to those things that they are familiar with,” she said. “It will just take more training, more time to get used to it.”
Ahead of Valentine’s Day, the store is giving Forevermark a big push with increased advertising and a wine-and-chocolate event the week prior to Feb. 14. “That might be a better judge,” Calhoun said.
