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Although for some companies in the Internet trade there are certain restrictions (for example, Tiffany does not sell diamond engagement rings through its website), the general trend is that the main goal of luxury brands is to maximize the convergence of trade "live" and via the Internet. Jean-Christophe Bedos stresses that in preparing for the start of Internet trading, it was not about what services to offer the client, but about how, with what technologies to transfer the services that the client receives to the new sector of trade in the Boucheron store.

One of the inevitable consequences of the output of the jewelry industry on the Internet is the sale of counterfeit goods, including through online auctions. Active position in the fight against counterfeiting is taken by Tiffany. The company's lawyers have put forward charges against eBay in permission to sell tens of thousands of pieces of fake Tiffany jewelry on its website. The lawyers of eBay, based in San Jose, in turn, declare that Tiffany does not contribute to the protection of consumer rights. It is reported that authorized persons of Tiffany arbitrarily purchased 325 pieces of jewelry, put up for sale on the site under the brand name Tiffany. They stated that 75% of them were fakes. The jewelry company believes that there is no evidence that eBay has done anything to stop the sale of fakes after Tiffany's announcement of the discovery of this state of affairs. However, representatives of the Internet auction refer to the fact that hundreds of thousands of sellers who sell goods through a website are guilty of violations. The Tiffany process against eBay opened in New York on November 13. Earlier this year, Tiffany had already seized $ 1 million from Starglam and its owner John Shamir for trading counterfeit products.

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"On the side of many luxury brands, there is still a rejection of the Internet and web commerce. However, after conducting our own research, we found that wealthy people have no taboos and no restrictions on the Internet. They are often very well equipped technically, and since time is a luxury for them, they find it more convenient to find everything they need on the Internet. " Bedos draws attention to the fact that the Internet can not replace the usual trade, the key in the company's sales concept, he said, is the combination of trade in retail and via the Internet. On the one hand, in the store jewelry or watches can be held in hands and tried on; on the other hand, web commerce offers a high level of privacy, intimacy and availability of goods: anywhere and anytime.

Tiffany, which started trading online in 2001, also updated its approach to this issue. The company's task, according to the president of the British branch of the company Melvin Kertli, is the client's immersion into the world of Tiffany. Therefore, the company is constantly working to improve the appearance of its site, applying new technologies, saturating the content with search capabilities, product descriptions and additional functions that are designed to make the appeal to the site more enjoyable for the client. Like Bedos, Kurtli believes that there should be harmony between online commerce and shopping "live". Representatives of all three popular brands note that the experience of Internet trading shows that consumers do not have any prejudice about the price of goods. This is confirmed by Rebecca Clark, managing director of the British jewelery Internet boutique Astley Clarke. According to her, not only the cost of individual orders grows, but also the average level of prices of purchased goods: currently 10% of orders are for goods worth more than 1000 pounds. Rebecca Clarke notes that their company would be a much more modest business without the Internet, and so it receives daily requests not only from Britain, but from Japan or California.

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The development of Internet trading has not escaped the attention of famous luxury brands. The Financial Times recalls that De Beers started Internet commerce in June. "Sales are up 65% monthly," says Guy Leimarie, head of De Beers Diamond Jewelers. Leimari notes that when starting Internet trading, the company had an example of an online store called Blue Nile, which sold more engagement rings over the past year than any retailer. For De Beers, it is important that the buyer understands that it's not about selling off: the company sells high-priced extra-class jewelry through its website. According to Leimari, through its website, the company recently sold a jewelry set with diamonds worth $ 1 million. "In the US, the Internet is a synonym for the market." But the company has not yet planned to expand Internet commerce outside the US. On the contrary, Boucheron is distinguished by an approach focused on international development: the company is currently trading through the Internet only in Europe, but plans to enter the American and Asian markets. The company sells through the Internet all its goods from the jewelry, watch and perfume lines. The company, according to its head Jean-Christophe Bedos, decided to start trading over the Internet a year ago.

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The research company ComScore made jewelry products on the list of the fastest growing online products in the US after their sales grew by 21% in the third quarter of 2007. In general, the amount spent on online jewelry purchases (excluding auctions and large corporate sales) for the quarter ended September increased by 23% to $ 28.4 billion. Video games, portable electronic devices and accessories topped the list of the best-selling products, showing an increase of 199% over the same period in 2006. Jewelry fell to ninth place. In the first nine months of 2007, retail sales of jewelry in the network grew by 21% (to 83.58 billion US dollars) compared to the same period last year. The head of ComScore Gian Fulgoni (Gian Fulgoni) noted that retail sales of jewelry in the network annually increase by more than 20%, and "this is still far from the limit."

More and more buyers in India prefer to make purchases on-line during the Diwali season (the Fire Day itself falls on this year on November 9). The United Chamber of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) plans that the final figures of online sales will grow by 130% compared to 2006 and amount to $ 146.33 million, since buyers prefer to buy from home due to convenience and for safety reasons . It was assumed that on-line purchases this year will be made by 3 million Indians - 1 million more than last year. According to ASSOCHAM, diamonds and jewelry will be among those goods, the demand for which during the festival will grow. According to the President of the Chamber Venugopala Dhuta, the growth in the number of purchases through the Internet is largely due to luxury goods, and this is one of the characteristic features of the Indian consumption market.

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The demand for gold, according to the World Gold Council, rose by 30% in the third quarter of 2007 and reached a record $ 20.7 billion. Demand in the US fell by 13%. However, demand for medium and high price jewelry remains, according to the Council, still lively. The demand for gold in India by weight has grown by 5%, and this is slightly smaller growth than in the first half, due to the rise in price of gold. At the same time, demand in China grew by 25%, and the increase in the value of gold almost did not affect it. Demand from Middle East countries remained stable: growth in Saudi Arabia was 19%, in the United Arab Emirates - 10%, in Egypt - 15%, in the Gulf countries - 3%. In Turkey, a new record was registered, the demand here was 86.3 tons. The demand for gold in the jewelry sector has reached the second in the history of the statistics. The high purchasing power of the population and the high exchange rate of the lira against the dollar balanced each other and allowed prices to remain stable. The demand for gold in the jewelry sector of Russia, according to the Council, continues to strive sky high, it grew by 23% and amounted to 22.4 tons. The council explains this by the growth of incomes of the population and the rapid development of the retail sector. The Council believes that investment interest in gold will continue in the near future, and as prices stabilize, countries that are the largest buyers of gold in the jewelry sector (India, China and the Gulf countries) are rapidly adapting to a new price level.

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In 2007, De Beers Group expects its business in mainland China (PRC) to grow by 12-13% due to strong demand. Marketing director De Beers Group (Greater China) Christina Hudson said that after a change in buying sentiment in the last decade, mainland China is becoming one of the fastest growing diamond markets. "When in 1993 we started trading in mainland China, diamonds did not cause the population special emotional reactions compared to jade or jewelry with other stones." However, during this time, the tastes changed, which particularly affected the wedding jewelry. In 2006, about 40% of Chinese women purchased diamonds for the wedding. The average price for a diamond sold here is about $ 2,800 - 3.5 times higher than the average in the market. As a rule, stones weighing 0.25-0.41 carats are sold. The heyday of the PRC economy is accompanied by an increase in demand for luxury goods, such as diamonds, which in sales account for about 2% of the global diamond market. The Chinese Gem & Jewelry Trade Association of China predicts that the total jewelry market in China will reach $ 2.7 billion by 2010. True, the Secretary-General of the Diamond Administration of the People's Republic of China, Yui Hoymin, at the diamond conference in Antwerp operated on an order of magnitude smaller figures. He referred to the forecasts of specialists, according to which the entire Chinese jewelry market by 2010 will amount to 2.5 billion US dollars, however, Research company Verdict Research predicts that the Asia-Pacific region by 2012 will come close to the United States in the consumption of luxury goods, equaling with Europe. Taking into account Japan, APR will occupy 36.2% of the market, almost reaching to Europe with its 36.4%. Watches and jewelry, according to analysts, in the structure of consumption will take second place, along with fashion cosmetics and perfumes.

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Managing Director of De Beers Gareth Penny believes that the diamond market has demonstrated its stability, and the crisis did not affect it. According to Penny, a positive signal comes from retailers in India and China. However, in his opinion, it is still too early to decide the situation in the US retail sector, and we should wait for Christmas. According to the forecasts of the American National Federation of Retail Trade, this year pre-holiday sales in the US will grow by 4% and amount to $ 474.5 billion. One of the most popular products should be jewelry. 23.8% of American consumers want to receive a gift as a gift. At the same time, the index of consumer confidence in the US luxury goods market (Unity Marketing's luxury Consumption Index) for the third quarter showed its lowest level since 2004, amounting to only 87.3 points. This index was compiled on the basis of a survey of over 1,000 luxury buyers that ended on October 1, 2007. The average income of survey participants was $ 150,200, and the age was 46.3 years. In a survey on luxury goods, including accessories, jewelry and watches, the lowest result was recorded, while luxury services grew by 11%. Unity Marketing President Pam Danziger noted that the survey results show that wealthy buyers prefer to buy services (travel, beauty salons and restaurants) rather than purchase luxury goods directly. Danziger explained that the market for wealthy people is now more segmented than before, and for this reason is more sensitive to the change in the cycles of economic development. According to Danziger, this trend should be taken into account when forecasting the situation in the pre-holiday trade.

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Analysts of the company expect that watches and jewelry will take second place in consumption after fashion, which now occupies 44.3% of the market share, but is expected to play a more modest role. Popular brands of watches and jewelry attract consumer interest with the help of new high-end products, analysts believe. In addition, the original value of jewelry and watches makes them an attractive object for investment in the eyes of a wide range of consumers.

According to the well-known analyst of the diamond market, James Allan, there can be no doubt that diamonds still remain "the best friends of the girls". The director of the financial group AllanHochreiter believes that the so-called "baby boomers" are the main influence on the market: Americans born between 1945 and 1964, who spend most of their income on polished diamonds. Of the 72 billion dollars that were spent last year on the purchase of diamond products in retail, 43% fell on the United States. This, according to Allan - one of the main impulses that spur the market, and there is no reason to believe that this trend can not take place in the rest of the world. In particular, according to the analyst, this is clearly seen in the oil Middle East economies: 15% of sales fall on this region. In a recent study conducted by De Beers Group Marketing for the world's largest diamond company, it was discovered that women's diamond jewelery has a leading position in the hierarchy of gifts in the Gulf countries. 43% of women in the Gulf countries appreciate diamond jewelry more than other gifts, including luxury watches, designer clothes, perfumes and even vacation abroad. In the Middle East, they prefer to give jewelry from diamonds to a greater extent than in all other parts of the world.

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The report, prepared by the Italian association of designers and designers Altagamma and agency Bain & Co., predicts an 8% increase in sales of luxury goods annually in the next three years. The Altagamma group includes about 60 participants, including Bulgari Jewelry Company and Versace fashion and accessories manufacturer. According to the results of this year, according to the forecast, sales of luxury goods will grow by 7-9%. While there is stagnation in the Japanese market, Europe remains a reliable market. The American crisis has practically no effect on sales, as it does not affect affluent consumers. The same can be said about the impact of a strong euro exchange rate. The British research company Report Buyer has made a longer-term forecast. In her opinion, the world's spending on luxury goods by 2012 will grow by 70% and amount to $ 465 billion. "The level of prosperity in the world as a whole is growing, and the demand for luxury goods categories will grow with it," the report says.

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These examples show that diamonds are not found in the Chinese cultural tradition. Diamond for many centuries was far from rapturous nickname "boring stone" because of its unique hardness. Scientists have established that the ancient Chinese used diamonds to grind jade in the Stone Age. Generally speaking, the use of diamond as a component of jewelry is known only ... since the beginning of the 20th century under the obvious influence of the European colonists of China. The first consumers of jewelry with diamonds were the wives and daughters of British officials and officers, and after them - anglicized aborigines, mainly in Hong Kong. In this stronghold of the Western European style of life in the 1920-1930's there were only a few jewelry stores offering diamond jewelry. The vast majority of diamond traders were French jewelers, who originally hired as sellers of their fellow tribesmen. Then they began to hire the Chinese. As training, local Chinese either opened their own jewelry shops, or moved to Shanghai, which was the most cosmopolitan city in China with the largest number of foreign population; The jewelry trade here flourished rapidly before the Second World War. Jewelry business in Hong Kong experienced dramatic events. In 1942, the city fell under the invasion of the Japanese army. The time of the "black market" has arrived. And then people rated diamonds and diamonds as a unique currency: at any time they could be converted into any values. There was a popular expression: "pass to salvation" (Passport to salvation)! After the war, the diamond business revived. The old firms, for example, the Gregory family, resumed operations. There were Chinese firms such as Foo Hang Jewelery and Tai Hang, who in 1948 started importing diamonds from Israel (then the country was called Palestine). Some of the trading companies have started to specialize in selling products with diamonds, for example, Diamonds Chow Tai Fook and Chow Sang. There were Indian speculators from Antwerp.

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the market of precious stones is much larger than the trade in only products with diamonds. The fact is that the Chinese consider diamonds to be "banal." The explanation for this lies in the mentality of the people. China remains a "jade country"; This stone accounts for 92% of the market for colored stones. The rest - ruby, sapphire, emerald, etc. Stable elements of the Chinese mentality (collectivism, coherence in society, modesty) determine the forms of attitude to luxury. It is believed that ostentatious, defiantly boastful luxury causes envy and, consequently, disharmony in society. Therefore, there are two characteristic phenomena: 1) the monotony of using personal luxuries within social groups (rulers, officials, military, workers, peasants), 2) transferring the center of gravity of luxury to public or collective objects (for example, religious objects) or public symbols for example, insignia of officials in clothing and accessories).

The history of jewelry in China is fundamentally different from the Euro-centrist tradition. Actually jewelry in the European sense (as a way of manifesting individuality) is of secondary importance. The culture of consumption of jewelry gold and silver in the Middle Kingdom has many centuries. Apparently, this is due to the fact that the rich deposits of these metals were discovered in China long before our era. The palaces of the emperors and the houses of the nobility literally shone with gold. Precious stones played the role of badges for officials. Thus, the ranks of officials differed in the belts, encrusted with various stones. For the 1st class - four pieces of agate, encrusted with rubies; for the 2nd class - four gold plates, encrusted with rubies; for the third class - four "bare" gold plates; for the 4th and 5th grades - gold plates inlaid with silver; for the 6th grade - four shells inlaid with silver; for the 7th class - four round silver plates; for the 8th grade - plates made of mutton horn, decorated with silver; for the 9th grade - plates made of black horn with silver appliqués. One of the most important accessories of the official's clothes was the headdress. On the cap of an official of the 1st class was a ruby ​​ball, in the second - a coral ball, and so on.   Gold products were accumulated in families as a collective asset. At the wedding, the brides tried to give gold baubles, for example, "bells of happiness", golden masks, nail cases, decorative golden trees. The wedding palanquin was often decorated with gilding and decorated with the golden hieroglyph "shuang-si" (double happiness). Pearls were used by both women and men. A typical subject of the bride was a pearl veil covering her face. The well-off Chinese women wore a "Phoenix Cap" or "Pearl Hat" - a hat decorated with pearls and precious stones. Men were popular pearl beads, as well as pearl finish hats. A sign of wealth and high status in society, among other things, were long nails. They made it clear that a person does not engage in humiliating physical labor. Since nails tend to break even without manual labor, they were put on safety cases.

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At the same time, he adds, as online sales increase, brands risk losing that "mysterious charm" that makes them buy such products: "If you allow this charm to disappear, then the most usual brand will remain, which thousands."

The Smolensk diamond manufacturer Kristall started trading online in November 2006. The general director of the company Maxim Shkadov notes that the system of sales through the "World Wide Web" is growing, which once again shows the serious business image and reputation of the company: "A virtual buyer of diamonds, who agrees to pay quite a lot of money over the Internet, is not afraid of being deceived. This fact itself speaks volumes. " We understand that the project will never bring big profits, says Shkadov. Its goal is more educational: it gives consumers the opportunity to learn more about what a diamond is, how it is created, how much it costs: "The final decision to buy or not buy diamonds remains with the consumer, but the information that he purchases on the Internet portal can he will come in handy, say, when visiting a jewelry salon. "

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Jewelry, which has long been considered the most difficult to sell online goods, now, according to representatives of this industry, one of the fastest growing segments. New video services allow buyers to view a favorite thing from different angles, helping them feel more confident when making an expensive purchase. "Technology helps overcome the barrier that consumers feel when they can not touch and touch a thing," says Brendan Hoffman, president and CEO of Neiman Marcus Direct, which brings in more than $ 500 million in revenue each year. According to a recent survey of the New York Luxury Institute, more than half of respondents, whose fortune exceeds $ 5 million, said they were buying jewelry online. The evidence that the attitude of the luxury goods industry to the Internet has changed can be found everywhere, the newspaper writes: starting with the brand Neiman Marcus, which advertises its site through YouTube, and ending with the appearance of the Armani store in the virtual world of the game Second Life. Bloggers, previously treated neglectfully, are now traditionally among the guests invited to the fashion events. According to creative director of the New York-based analytical company Doneger Group David Wolf, the Internet greatly contributes to the democratization of the fashion world, attracting consumers who would never cross the threshold of a chic store.

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This year, luxury brands, including jewelry, began to pay attention to the opportunities of dynamically developing electronic commerce. Online sales of their products in June began De Beers Diamond Jewelers. As reported by Kommersant, recently this direction was interested in the French jewelry company Boucheron.   In the past, luxury goods manufacturers were very cautious about everything that could damage the image of exclusivity carefully cultivated by them or reduce sales in traditional stores, the newspaper said. For example, manufacturers of Rolex watches and Patek Philippe, refuse to sell their products online, and Rolex persistently pursues sites that sell watches on the Internet, and uses serial numbers to track suppliers. However, the volume of electronic commerce is difficult to ignore. According to the American Institute Forrester Research, this year the amount of online sales reached $ 259.2 billion, which is 18% higher than in 2006. The volume of sales of luxury goods alone this year should reach $ 2.5 billion, according to the same source, and by 2010 this figure will reach $ 7 billion. "And while they are still an insignificant proportion of total retail sales, luxury goods sales remain the fastest growing segment, "says Victoria Bracewell Lewis, a senior analyst at Forrester Research.

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Steven Lussiere, De Beers' executive director for external and corporate relations, explains the company's understanding of its social responsibility in an interview with Modern Jeweler: "For De Beers, the responsibility of the corporation means that we must conduct our business in a way that can lead to a real and long-term change for the better life of people where we work. De Beers is extremely proud of the positive role that diamonds play in the lives of those countries where we operate: in Botswana, South Africa, Namibia, Tanzania and, more recently, in Canada. "

As a real example of the social responsibility of the corporation, Lussier talks about De Beers' cooperation with African governments, the World Bank and non-governmental organizations in supporting small independent parties of prospectors searching for diamonds in alluvial deposits. De Beers announced its intention to donate $ 2 million to support a project to help miners in Tanzania to provide them with medical care and the ability to sell the diamonds they found at a market price.

Lussier categorically challenged the view of the environmental damage caused to the diamond mining environment. According to him, diamond mining is the least harmful to the nature of the extractive industry. According to his data, only in 2005 the corporation spent 3.1 million dollars on rehabilitation and restoration of natural ecosystems.

In this line of business in January, the company allocated a quarter of a million dollars to rebuild the area around its South African mines. The money was donated to the Namaqualand Restoration Initiative (NRI), which aims to return biological diversity to the territories that form part of the so-called "carrus," a plateau in South Africa.

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The company continued to open new stores. In January, a new store was opened in Las Vegas, and in May the company entered into a lease for a building for a shop in San Francisco. A representative of the real estate company, cooperating with De Beers, noted that De Beers will continue to search for buildings in the prestigious areas of those cities where, possibly, new outlets will be opened.

In June, the company entered the Internet, opening its online store De Beers.com. In the assortment of the store - products in the price range of 500-30000 dollars. It is noted that the opening of the store will give an opportunity to purchase jewelry brand products to clients from those cities where there are as yet no representative offices of the company.

The publication WWD notes that of the largest companies - rivals De Beers - "Cartier" does not sell goods online, and "Tiffany" does it.

The head of the company Guy Leimari noted that the sale of the site will be attended by designer collections Talisman and Radiance, but mostly it will be goods that are easy to buy. "To make more complex purchases that require clarification, we will invite the client to the store."

An important element of on-line sales will be the De Beers passport, which guarantees the origin of the diamond.

The experts disagreed on whether De Beers' new venture is still awaiting success.

In October, De Beers plans to present a watch production line in cooperation with Swiss manufacturers. The watch will be executed in the spirit of the Talisman collection, whose design emphasizes the use of rough diamonds.

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De Beers Diamond Jewellers Limited (formerly De Beers LV) is a joint venture between De Beers and the largest group of luxury goods companies, the French LVMH Mo [R] t Hennessy Louis Vuitton by the standards of the jewelry industry.

Designer Neil Lane (Neil Lane) media is called "Star Jeweler", "King of the Ice Age" and "diamond ace". Among his Hollywood clients are Gwyneth Paltrow, Charlize Theron, Demi Moore, Elizabeth Taylor and many others.

Until recently, his products could be purchased only in his studio in Los Angeles. The designer carefully protected his brand from large investors, but saw in the newly appeared company De Beers LV of adequate partners. His debut in a new capacity was the exclusive "Hollywood Collection", the presentation of which opened the De Beers Rodeo Drive store in December 2005. Now items from the collection are sold in De Beers stores in New York and London.

"Neal is a true jeweler and an influential person in Hollywood. His participation helped De Beers to take its place in jewelry retailing ", - this is how the head of De Beers LV Guy Leymarie speaks about him. "He helped us enter the world of luxury goods business."

To strengthen its position as a jewelry brand, the company decided with the help of the famous British jeweler Stephen Webster, whose clients include Madonna, Elizabeth Hurley and Gwyneth Paltrow. In June, Webster launched for De Beers a collection of jewelry for men, trimmed with rough diamonds, entitled "Burning Rocks".