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A more traditional example is the system for obtaining feedback from customers and evaluating the attractiveness of products, introduced on the website in ZLC Direct / Zale Corp. Senior Vice President of Electronic Commerce Steve Larkin told how the constant creation of reviews and descriptions of goods by the users themselves allows to greatly expand the presentation capabilities of the online store, in particular, to manage the sales of third-party brands more effectively. Since the launch of the system in November 2007, the site posted comments on more than 5,500 commodity items, which significantly helped to increase the ratio of the number of views to the number of purchases. Also, the system helps to detect the shortcomings of goods sold, and several positions, the quality of which did not satisfy customers, were removed from the range of Zale Corp.

A new BIGresearch study allows you to analyze the behavior of American visitors to the largest sites (such as AOL, Google or Yahoo!) regarding sponsorship links. Of the 15,727 respondents, 9% said they pay attention to sponsor links when they are looking for a particular product or service on the Internet. This group of respondents (roughly one in every ten) is characterized by a slightly lower average age (40.7 years, unlike the others, whose average age was 44.8) and lower income ($ 53,901 vs. $ 56,811). 8% in this group are students, 62.6% identified themselves as representatives of the "white" population. Among the factors that influence the attitude to sponsor links, and such as the intention to make a purchase of jewelry and / or plans for marriage.

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The diamond industry and the jewelry business have traditionally lagged behind in technology. Overcoming this gap was the Plumb Club Forum, the traditional meeting of the elite club of companies - leaders in the market of jewelry, diamonds and diamonds, which took place on March 2 - 3 in New York under the motto "The Changing Face of the Jewelry Industry". The conference talked a lot about Web 2.0. If the sites of the first generation (Web 1.0) were just static sets of information, then Web 2.0 is interactivity, orientation to personalization of services, wide integration of various technologies, especially multimedia, such as services such as Youtube and Facebook. The forum hosted presentations of specific achievements and examples of using Web 2.0. Pinni Gniewish, founder and executive vice president of marketing for Ice.com, showed Yutyubov's video of his company, which, with little production costs (just over $ 1,000), has already paid off many times at the expense of sales stimulated by this new type of advertising.

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Anglo American and De Beers Typically, most mining experts in the exploration of the diamond mining companies of the world consider only De Beers, forgetting that this is only the visible part of the iceberg. In fact, it turns out that this is only some of the largest mining holding Anglo American, established in 1917. Sir Ernest Oppenheimer. Starting with a share capital of one million pounds sterling, attracted to the UK and the US (hence the name takes place), the company in 1920-1930. The last century has come to the forefront, having carried out a number of significant projects in the extraction of gold and diamonds. In 1926 it became the largest shareholder of the diamond company De Beers, founded even earlier in 1888. Cecil Rhodes, and from that time took control of the extraction and sale of diamonds in the world.

Anglo American Currently, Anglo American is one of the world's leading mining companies dealing in platinum, gold, diamonds, coal, non-ferrous and ferrous metals, industrial minerals, as well as paper and packaging materials. The extraction of diamonds in this case is only one of its activities, which to date has been reduced to 4.6% of operating profit by core activities

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The 29-year-old actress Claire Danes (best known for Juliet's role in Romeo and Juliet's Baz Luhrmann) was declared the face of an upcoming campaign to promote the Gucci jewelry line. Danes will be replaced by Drew Barrymore, who was the face of the brand's jewelry line in 2007-08. It is announced that the campaign will start in fashion magazines in the autumn. "Claire Danes is a modern idol," says Gucci creative director Frida Gianini. - In my opinion, she is one of the most interesting contemporary young actresses. She is very natural and very serious about the choice of roles. Sensual and convincing beauty of Claire, her independent, strong and temperamental character is the personification of the image of today's Gucci woman. "

Finally, the star can be not only a model for jewelry, but also their designer. Not so long ago, Nicole Richie started to create her own line of jewelry. Now the author of jewelry is the "female doctor" Jane Seymour. The collection of Open Hearts according to her drawings was made by the company Kay Jewelers. The collection consists of necklaces with diamonds, earrings, bracelets and rings at prices ranging from 40 to 1500 dollars. The collection, consisting of more than 40 items, is made of 14-carat gold (white, yellow or alloy of these two gold) or sterling silver.

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In cooperation with celebrities, the strategy of promoting the Leviev brand to the American market is being built. The media has repeatedly written about this. A new achievement of the brand in this area is the wedding of Ivana Trump, the former wife of billionaire Donald Trump. During the week-long celebrations on the occasion of the wedding with Rosano Rubicondy, Ivan appeared in many decorations from Leviev. To the wedding gown of designer Zuhan Mawara at the Florida celebration, Trump added a diamond necklace with stones weighing 71.76 carats and diamond earrings with stones weighing 6.39 carats. On the first night she appeared in a diamond set from Leviev with fantasy yellow stones weighing 140 carats, and for reception after the wedding she chose a diamond bracelet, earrings and a necklace with a total weight of 150 carats.

Sometimes luck to "light up" with the help of a celebrity falls and for jewelers "from the outback". On May 10, the wedding of the daughter of American President Jenna Bush took place. The wedding was preceded by an engagement during which the president's daughter sported in a ring with diamonds and sapphires made at Charles Schwarzschild Inc. from Richmond. Jane Sternheimer, owner and president of Charles Schwarzschild Inc., kept the order in secret, but told the media about it on the eve of the wedding. Details of this story the owner of the jewelry company told for the number of National Jeweler, coming out in June.

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Along with official events, an important element of the stellar promotion are private events in the life of celebrities, first of all, engagements and weddings. For the jewelry industry, this part of the product promotion strategy is all the more important that, according to analysts' forecasts, jewelry for weddings and engagement will be an important catalyst for sales growth in conditions when the jewelry market as a whole is affected by the recession. Promotion at the engagement is important, primarily because it promotes the idea of an engagement ring, while many modern women believe that this is an "old-fashioned custom" and "a waste of time." As the journalist of the English Daily Telegraph writes, "most of us still dream of a big ring in a small box from Tiffany or from Aspreys. The attractive power of the diamond ring is truly great - I still do not get out of my head the ring that gave the late Diana, Princess of Wales, Dodi Fayed - "Tell me yes." The appearance of a celebrity in the mass media in the engagement ring of a jewelry company's work on the economic effect is obviously comparable to the defile on the red carpet. However, as practice shows, here again one can not avoid getting into milk. So, around the ring of Mariah Carey, made in Jacob & Co, a dispute arose in the media: a new one or the groom had already given it to his former bride. As a result, hastened to declare the authorship of the ring and issued a special congratulatory press release, Jacob Arab had to prove that the ring was made especially for the singer.

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This is by no means a pervasive practice, writes the site, there is, thank God, the mass of stars who wear jewelry that they like, without any contracts. And there are still so impressive jewelry that the stars literally fight for the right to wear them during the evening. The site recalls the example of an impressive celebrity promotion of jewelry: in 1997, a diamond ornament from Chanel worth $ 490,000 was bought literally from the neck of Celine Dion. Hardly the singer appeared on the Oscar carpet, as the buyer had already called Chanel to purchase a diamond comet wrapped around her neck.   The most significant events for the celebrity promotion ("Grammy", "Oscar") have already taken place, others (such as the Cannes or Venice Film Festivals) take place later (the opening of the Cannes Film Festival was on May 14). Nevertheless, there is almost always an opportunity to promote jewelry in the framework of less significant but attracting attention of significant groups of event audiences. So, in April, the Association of Natural Colored Diamonds (NCDIA) was the official sponsor of the Billboard Latin Music Awards-2008. On the eve of the event on April 8 and 9, NCDIA held jewelry shows with the participation of stars in Hollywood. Jewels worth over $ 30 million were presented by jewelry companies Black, Starr and Frost and George Walton's Gold and Diamond Co. On April 10, the awarding of the stars of Latin music was held, in which Cath de Luna, Fannie Lou, Olga Teynon, Jury and other popular artists appeared in colored diamonds. According to official data, the Latin American population of the United States is currently at least 15%. The number of it will increase significantly in the future. In addition, the popularity of Latin American rhythms among a significant proportion of the rest of the US population is evident. Thus, the cooperation of jewelery sellers with colored diamonds and the community of musicians who perform Latin music, obviously, will have to contribute to the development of this segment of the US jewelry market.

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For designers and jewelers, the effect of publicity associated with the decoration of a star walking along the red carpet is estimated at hundreds of thousands of dollars, writes Jewelry.com. Photos of the shining celebrities clad in the works of these masters are replicated throughout the world, demonstrating to all of us that this is the choice of "those who are in the know". Every year, the struggle for the right to dress up the star is becoming more fierce. Some fairly enterprising stylists took it as a rule to demand money from companies in advance, although it is not yet known whether class A models will sport in their clothes or jewelry. Others directly require a "place to rent." Simply put, they insist on the right to "rent space on a star" for "placing" their jewelry - thereby giving a new meaning to the notion of "trade area". A few years ago, this practice of acquiring a "place on the star" got into the headlines when, according to the Times of London, Hilary Swank returned the jewels leased from Harry Winston for the 2005 Oscar ceremony (that's when she won the statuette as the best actress) , as Chopard, according to reporters, offered her $ 90,000 for wearing their jewelry. The Los Angeles Times recently noted that Swank and Sharliz Theron both returned the rented jewelry to Harry Winston less than a day before the 2005 Golden Globe ceremony, allegedly after they received checks with six-digit numbers from Chopard for agreed to put on the jewels of the firm for the event.

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Particularly popular in the first quarter was the watch model "chronograph" with diamonds. The sales leader also became the Journey curve pendant of white gold (14 carats), diamond ring with a princess cut diamond and stud earrings with round cut diamonds of 1 carat weight. Pendants with black diamonds and watches with diamonds also enjoyed success among consumers. The cost of these products ranges from $ 200 to $ 40,000. In the first quarter, the company added about 450 new models to the collection of jewelry, the most popular being the Infinity suspension with black diamonds. Among the diamond watches, the Movado Diamond Amorosa models of the Seiko Coutura brand and the Invicta Limited Edition Diamond chronograph were especially popular.

The Harry Winston Diamond Corporation achieved record total sales last year, achieving a 35% increase in gross profit and a 48% increase in total operating revenue from the previous year. The company's annual total sales increased by 22% to $ 679.3 million, and operating income was $ 217.7 million ($ 558.8 million and $ 146.8 million in the previous year). Net income was $ 106.4 million ($ 104.3 million a year earlier). The mining sector reported annual sales growth of 24% to $ 413.8 million, and the retail sector - about a 17% increase in sales to $ 265.5 million. The profit from operations in the mining segment increased by 53% to $ 220.7 million. Losses in the trading segment amounted to $ 3.1 million. The company in 2008 fiscal year opened five new stores, compared with three salons, opened a year earlier.

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Tiffany & Co. announced plans to open new stores. So, a boutique in the shopping center "Shinseg Gannam" in Seoul (Republic of Korea) has already been opened. Recall that the opening of this store was preceded by an exhibition of jewelry jewelry Tiffany in the capital of South Korea. In the autumn of this year, a boutique will open in Irish Dublin. In late 2009, the company plans to open a store in CityCenter, a "vertical city", the construction of which is now in Las Vegas.

Retail sales of diamond products in the Internet company Amazon.com increased by more than 100% in the first quarter of 2008. No exact figures have been published. According to the representative of the company, more and more people make purchases in the jewelry department of the online store www.Amazon.com.

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Jack Abramov, president and CEO of HOTJ, resigned from his posts in early April, and was replaced by Lyle Rose. In addition, the brother of former president Monti Abramov left his posts as secretary of the board and vice president. The expected financial results of HOTJ in 2007 (before the audit by the auditors) are disappointing. Net revenue is only 200 thousand US dollars, which is 99.3% less than in 2006. Revenue excluding returns of goods, discounts, write-offs, etc. was equal to 21.6 million US dollars, which is only 35.7% of the 2006 level. It is assumed that the company's net losses for 2007 will amount to $ 14.8 million.

LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton reported its performance in the first quarter of 2008. Its combined sales of watches and jewelery rose 12% year-on-year to 211 million euros. Income of the group as a whole also increased by 5% and amounted to 4.002 billion euros, taking into account data on the Asian, European and US markets. With the help of its creativity and advancement to new markets, the company hopes to achieve growth in 2008. LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton also announced the acquisition of Hublot, a Swiss watch brand with a distribution network of 300 stores around the world. Hublot was established in 1980. Hublot will join the existing collections of LVMH watches, which include TAG Heuer, Dior Montres, Louis Vuitton, Zenith, and watches from jewelry companies Chaumet, Fred and De Beers. Hublot currently distributes its products in France, Switzerland, Germany, Latin America, Japan, Hong Kong, Russia, Singapore, Spain, the Middle East and the USA, and also starts its business in China and India. The prices for the Hublot-owned Big Bang collection range from $ 12,500 to $ 470,000.

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The company-manufacturer of luxury goods notes that the turnover in Europe showed "a good growth in the already mastered markets and double-digit growth in emerging regional markets, including the Middle East." Without taking into account exchange rate fluctuations, the company notes, sales at the end of the year increased by 16%. A fifth of Richemont's revenue came from US markets, where fourth-quarter sales were "very impressive" if you do not take into account exchange rate fluctuations. Sales in Japan in the fourth quarter fell by 4.6% to $ 227.7 million. In the yen equivalent, they were "slightly lower" indicators of the previous year. Just over half of Richemont's sales fell on jewelry, another 25% on watches. In the fourth quarter of the fiscal year, according to Richemont estimates, the dollar on average fell to the euro by 12%.

House of Taylor Jewelery (HOTJ), an American supplier of luxury jewelry, received a message on the cessation of trading its shares (delisting) on NASDAQ. The company did not submit financial statements for the past year either in normal time or in the deadline until April 15, which violated the NASDAQ rules. In addition, the company did not pay a technical fee for trading its shares on the site. As a result, the trading of HOTJ shares on the NASDAQ market was officially terminated on April 24 this year. As previously reported, on October 29, 2007, HOTJ received a notice from NASDAQ that its share price was below the minimum authorized level of $ 1 per share for at least 10 consecutive business days in a row. At the same time, the company was given 180 days to rectify the situation.

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According to a later report by Blue Nile, its results for the first quarter of this year exceeded expectations. Gross profit for the quarter increased by 5.1% to $ 13.9 million ($ 13.2 million in the same quarter of 2007). Gross profit as a share of sales increased to 19.8%, compared to 19.5% in the first quarter of 2007. International sales for the quarter were $ 5.7 million, an increase of 124% compared to the first quarter of 2007 The company recorded net sales of $ 70.5 million, compared to $ 67.9 million in the first quarter of 2007.

Compagnie Financiere Richemont SA reported that sales at the end of the year (March 31) grew by 10% to $ 8.4 billion, due to sales of jewelry, Montblanc high-end watches and pens. "Strong growth in sales of luxury goods, which took place during the first three quarters of the financial year, remained in the last three months of the year," Richemont said. The Zurich-based luxury holding company reported very high sales growth in China and Hong Kong. However, overall growth was lower than a year ago (then it was 12%), which the company explains by the economic downturn in Japan. According to the company, revenues in the fourth quarter increased by 11% and amounted to 1.7 billion dollars. Quarterly sales in Europe and the Middle East jumped 17% to $ 703.7 million. The level of quarterly sales in the Americas remained unchanged at $ 284.3 million.

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The Seattle-based company reported that part of the funds was used to purchase shares worth $ 20 million, so in the last three years, the total amount of the shares was $ 95 million. The company said that following the results of the financial year 2007, the total amount of cash and cash equivalent, which it possesses, amounted to more than $ 122 million, in addition, the company has no debts. It is stated that it intends to continue to use free cash for repurchasing shares. In the coming years, Blue Nile will focus on developing its international business. In 2007, the company launched two Web sites that calculate local currency for the Canadian and UK markets and opened an operations center in Irish Dublin to service the UK and most of the European market. International sales in 2007 doubled to $ 17 million. "Looking ahead, we can say that sales outside the US will be an essential part of our business," the cover letter to the annual report, signed by the chairman of the board of the company Mark Vaidon and the company's president Dian Irwin, says. The company's management suggests that the decline in consumer demand forces Blue Nile to carefully assess the prospects for 2008. However, it is noted: "Our confidence in the sustainability of our business model, however, remains unshakable; we are confident that, at the end of the economic downturn, our market share will increase, and our financial position will be strengthened in comparison with competitors. Our company is financially stable due to the fact that the cost of its constituent structures is low, and the business model is economically efficient. "

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Eight new talented designers were chosen as "Rising Stars" by JCK Las Vegas-2008. The debut of their jewelry at the trade show will take place from May 30 to June 3 in the Las Vegas Sands Expo & Convention Center. Among the rising stars of 2008 there are also our compatriots: Gemra AG is the official international distributor of Muz Elit LLC (Moscow Jewelry Factory "Elite"), representing the Russian jewelry brand "haute couture" "Monte Auri" with the Russian collection. Nina Basharova - born in Russia, who grew up in Ukraine, Nina started her way into art under the influence of her parents' creative environment. This atmosphere of creativity inspired her to create jewelry, in which her love for culture and jewels, imbued with the spirit of history, is woven into one. Note that the name Basharova not first appears in the American jewelry media. In particular, in one of the IDEXMagazine numbers a special article was devoted to it.

Internet retailer of diamonds and jewelry Blue Nile in its annual report notes that the company's revenues grew by 26.9% and by the end of the financial year with the end of December 31, 2007 amounted to $ 319.3 million. Among other financial indicators of the year are the following: Net profit increased by 33.6% and amounted to 17.5 million dollars; Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes and depreciation increased by 31.4% to $ 29.9 million;

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The Antwerp World Diamond Center (AWDC) encourages designers to participate in the 13th International HRD Awards for the best design of a diamond jewelry. The competition is held every two years. The theme of this year's contest will be "Once upon a time ... my favorite fairy tale". Designers are invited to plunge into the world of legends and fantasy, in order to create jewelry, in which such characters as fairies, goblins, elves, trolls, witches and so on would be reflected. The competition is open to participation of both professionals and amateurs from all over the world, the winning collection will be exhibited in Belgium and abroad during 2009-2010. The demonstration of works will begin on June 18, 2009, and in July-August they will be exhibited in the Diamond Museum of the province of Antwerp. After the collection will be shown in Belgium, it can be seen at international jewelry fairs, museums and jewelry galleries. The works submitted for the competition must be samples of the original design, not previously exhibited and not started in production. The main importance in the design and plot of the works has a diamond aspect, noted in the Diamond Center. The decoration must contain diamonds weighing at least 1 carat, but not more than 25 carats. Applications for participation in the competition (together with drawings or photographs of product designs or photos of manufactured models) are accepted until October 31, 2008. The finalists selected from among the participants will receive the right to manufacture and send ready products to the contest by March 31, 2009.

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However, traders in precious stones at the fair of jewels in Tucson called these efforts well-intentioned, but erroneous, predicting that the boycott would hit single-diggers in Myanmar and cut diamonds in Thailand. Even in the AGTA apparatus, as the discussion showed, there is no unity of opinion. "I do not think that the idea of an embargo will be beneficial for the people of Burma," says Richard Hughes of the research center at AGTA. "Earlier, I myself believed that the imposition of an embargo would put the Burmese junta to its knees. Now I am sure that this will bring disaster to ordinary people. " Many of the American ruby traders claim that their objections in no way result from the fact that their own business will be harmed. They stress that ordinary embezzlers and stone cutters in Thailand will suffer from the embargo. Harry Habshman of Gems of Naples notes that in case of an embargo rubies will grow in price. And William Hakimi of Hakimi and Sons, the largest ruby dealer in the US, says that rubies have risen 20-30% over the year. The further development of the situation will depend not only on the attitude to this issue of American and European government bodies and the jewelry community, but also on how the situation in Myanmar will develop after a catastrophic hurricane. Hurricane Nargiz, which struck Myanmar in early May, according to the latest information, killed 78 thousand people. According to UN estimates, about 2.5 million people were affected by the disaster and in need of emergency assistance.