72% of Millennials prefer to spend on experiences rather than things, according to a Harris Group poll. Given that knowledge, what do you think the average Millennial with a teen or tween child and $1000 to spend would rather spend it on? The first option: Taylor Swift tickets for the two of them, including a t-shirt, copy of the album (yes, kids are actually buying CDs as souvenirs), and whatever other merch will come to symbolize this one-in-a-lifetime event. Option two: $1000 worth of nice clothes or furniture or electronics.

Most would go for option 1. Why? Because it offers an experience. You can go shopping any time. You don’t even have to “go” shopping—you can do it online. The Eras Tour, on the other hand, happens only once, and you get to be a part of it. It’s an event, a spectacle, an experience, and anything you buy there will be a symbol of that experience. For these kinds of consumers, and for many Americans across generations, happiness doesn’t stem from owning things. It’s a result of experiences and the associated emotions. How can luxury retail compete with that?

The Store as Experience

If retailers are to compete with luxury experiences like vacations and expensive concert tickets, they have to provide experiences, not just great products. A store that provides a great customer experience is one that tells a story and brings the customer into a story. Merchandising and interior design are part of that story. When a customer steps inside of a luxury store, they should immediately know that they are stepping into someplace different. They are stepping out of their everyday life and into a new world, and your salespeople are their guides through this new world. They’re not just coming to shop; they are there for an experience.

While the shopping experience itself should be, well, an experience, retailers can take it even further to host special events at their stores. From product launch parties to workshops, retailers can create foot traffic and interest by hosting low-pressure events that provide value to potential customers without demanding they make a purchase.

Tell Stories About Your Products

A good product description on a website tells consumers exactly what the product is, but it has to go further than that. Product descriptions should be written in the voice of your brand and in a way that connects to the overall story of your brand.

The same goes for the products in a physical store. Merchandising, signage, and salespeople should all enhance customer experience by working to tell a story about a product. That’s because stories—not just bare facts—are what connect people to each other and create a sense of community. They also have the power to connect people to places and objects. A story isn’t static, it has a beginning, middle, and end. It is an experience.

The Story Doesn’t End with a Sale

When you make a sale, your relationship with that customer is just beginning. They have purchased not just a product, but entry into a community. Stay in touch with them through email, ask them to follow you on social media, remind them to come back for cleaning and maintenance. Creating a great customer experience means going beyond the sale to forge an ongoing relationship.

Your communication with customers should not only be promotional in nature. Use email, social media, and blogs to connect, educate, and entertain. Topics, style, and voice should always be in line with brand identity.

Experiences Are the Future of Retail

Today, consumers are spending more on “experiences” than on products. Vacations, movie and concert tickets, and fine dining are all more attractive to today’s consumer than purchasing an object. But jewelry retailers can provide consumers the customer experience they are looking for. As with so much in retail, it comes back to knowing your brand and knowing your customers, and knowing how to connect the two.

“Did you get the memo?” Depending on the business you work in, the answer to this question could have vastly different implications. The memo business is one of the more unique aspects of the jewelry industry, and managing memo orders can become a headache for suppliers and retailers alike. There is a lot of trust involved in the practice, and the process can sometimes seem a bit too casual given the value of the items being exchanged. It’s a necessity we live with, however, as buying inventory outright and keeping it on hand until it can be sold is not viable for most businesses.

Today, however, memos don’t have to amount to a handshake deal. Like so much else about the jewelry business, technology can streamline the memo process, making it safe and secure for all parties involved.

History of the Memo Business

If the memo seems like an old-fashioned practice, that’s because it is. It has been a part of the jewelry industry for over a century, and some relationships between parties doing business by memo are nearly as old. It was probably much easier to build relationships and establish trust back then, when importation, cutting, polishing, and selling were all done in the same part of town by people who knew each other well. That is the case for the world-famous diamond districts of Mumbai, Tel Aviv, and New York City. While the industry has evolved in the last hundred years, and New York’s Diamond District has moved from downtown to midtown, the archaic practice of the memo is as prevalent as ever. With technology, we can bring this practice into the 21st century.  

Difficulties of Memo Sales

As this hypothetical scenario from INSTORE Magazine demonstrates, successful memo sales require a high degree of trust and understanding between parties. One party could make a mistake in their documentation, leading to disagreement, hurt feelings, and damaged business relationships.

Theft is always a possibility, though not necessarily a probability, with memo goods. Robberies, while rare, do happen. But a retailer will be insured against theft. But they may not be insured against natural disasters, so that is a risk you take when you put your inventory in someone else’s care. Likewise, memo goods can be lost or damaged in shipment. When you receive a diamond or piece of jewelry on memo, it might not be exactly as it was described. The risks involved in memo sales make the practice not particularly beloved by all in the jewelry industry, but it remains a necessary part of doing business.

Once you manage to overcome the difficulties and pitfalls of memo sales, you run into a new problem: keeping track of the inventory you’ve sent out or have coming in. In an increasingly online world, paper notes and even spreadsheets don’t cut it anymore.

How Technology Can Help

The rise of ecommerce makes it easier to reach a wider audience for memo sales. Memo sales have increased to the point that it’s not uncommon to see the same diamond on memo at multiple ecommerce sites. While this can cause headaches for suppliers and retailers alike, managing memos in the same place you sell them is possible.

Tools specifically designed for this purpose can also provide you with high-quality photos of the actual items on memo so there will be no confusion between parties or disappointment on the part of the consumer. With the right technology, there will be no need for the customer to wait for the diamond or jewelry to be delivered to your store—you can show them a photo of the same item they are interested in buying, bringing you that much closer to a sale.

In an age of supply chain disruption and an uncertain economic outlook, memo sales remain an important part of the jewelry industry. They allow jewelry businesses to make sales without committing to keeping expensive inventory on hand. When you have the right technological tools at your disposal, memos become less of a necessary evil and logistical headache and more of an opportunity to find new suppliers and provide customers with exactly what they’re looking for at a price that works for you and for them.

Somehow, we’re already halfway through 2023, which means it’s time to start thinking about the holiday season. If the outlook for the remainder of the year, including the holiday shopping season, could be summed up in one word, that word would be “uncertainty.” We don’t know if we’ll still be experiencing high inflation, we don’t know if we’ll be hit by a recession before the end of the year, and we don’t know how consumer impressions about the economy will affect their holiday spending. Given this uncertainty, it's hard to make predictions about how much, or how little, to order for the coming holiday season.

Buying diamond jewelry is a major purchase. In some cases, it’s up there with buying a car. Before driving off of the lot, you do everything in your power to be sure you’re buying the right one. The same goes for diamonds. Evaluating the 4Cs of a diamond can seem like a subjective task, but third-party certifications give buyers the knowledge they need to enter into a transaction with trust and confidence. Without a certificate, buyers—both B2B buyers and consumers—can’t be sure of exactly what they are getting. Furthermore, consumers researching diamonds online are going to hear again and again that they should only buy diamonds with GIA or IGI certification. The 2021 Bain & Company report on the diamond industry asked consumers “What would make you consider buying diamond jewelry online?” 28% of consumers in the US, 27% of consumers in China, and 25% of consumers in India said that the retailer would have to build trust: “reliable brand, certificate, warranty.” Building that trust through third-party grading reports and authentications is the way forward in this regard.

The JCK show, one of the jewelry industry’s most important trade shows, took place in Las Vegas this June. Now in its fourth decade, the event hosted thousands of attendees and exhibitors from all over the world, covering every aspect of the industry. One of the major topics of conversation was lab-grown diamonds. Marked by wild fluctuations in price over the past five years, LGD and their effect on diamond prices and the industry as a whole has been an ongoing concern for lab-grown and mined diamond proponents alike. We talked to representatives from five diamond growers to get their impression of the show and of the future of LGD.

Price Stabilization is Key for LGD’s Future

Prices were at the top of everyone’s minds. Prices are stabilizing, which growers see as a good thing for the LGD sector. “It looks like the free fall of prices in all categories of lab-grown diamonds was preventing the customers from buying,” said Tushar Parikh (Eternity Diamonds). “There is a need to do something by all the growers to stop this free fall of prices and to gain back the customers confidence.”

With prices stabilizing, many in the LGD sector look forward to growth. Vipul Patel (Labon/Greenlab) said, “As growers, we think that the prices have bottomed out and now there is a good interest amongst clients to start buying and stocking lab-grown diamonds and jewelry for the forthcoming season, which is very positive sign for the lab-grown industry.”

Vipul Shah (Meraya Lab-Grown Diamonds) felt the outlook for lab-grown diamonds was “Quite good in terms of price stability. It will further fuel customers’ trust in lab diamonds.” He added, “I am confident that the coming season will be very good.”

But not everyone is so confident. Mr. Parikh (Eternity Diamonds) highlighted falling prices and decreasing sales of LGD, adding that “Traders and manufacturers who buy roughs are suffering the most. Whether they sell loose or jewelry, certified or non-certified…all the categories of LGD are suffering huge losses.”

Niraj Sojitra (Maitri Lab Grown) gave an extensive assessment of where the lab-grown diamond industry is now and where it is headed:

Surprisingly, the demand for lab-grown diamonds remains strong, with consumers displaying an unyielding interest in these exquisite gems. What's even more remarkable is that customers are not clamoring for discounts; they are genuinely content with the prices, which have stabilized.

This enthusiasm is fueling a desire for more, as people are actively seeking to expand their collections and indulge in larger stones and heavier jewelry. The growth trajectory of the lab-grown diamond industry appears promising, with an increasing number of individuals recognizing the unique benefits and allure of these ethically-produced gems.

As we look to the future, it's evident that lab-grown diamonds will continue to captivate consumers' hearts and elevate the industry as a whole. Their sustainable nature, coupled with their exquisite beauty, presents an enticing proposition for both new and seasoned jewelry enthusiasts. This burgeoning market holds tremendous potential for growth and innovation, promising a dazzling future for lab-grown diamonds that sparkles with opportunity.

Overall Impressions of JCK 2023

As for the event itself, Mr. Patel (Labon/Greenlab) found JCK 2023 to have been “a great event for the lab-grown diamonds players. The main reason was a more than expected foot traffic of existing & new clients to the Lab Grown Pavilion and we have seen clients taking a very serious interest in lab-grown diamonds.” Nirav Virani from DV Jewelry also praised the amount of foot traffic and saw “a lot of inquisitiveness in lab three carat and below.”

Mr. Patel (Labon/Greenlab) summed up the event nicely: “To sum it up, this year we have seen lot of new clients coming to join the lab grown diamond business, positive vibes and retail confidence as the prices have been steady and we will see a good buying interest from clients for the upcoming season and we are hopeful that this year the Lab Grown Diamond Industry will see a very good season ahead.”

Overall, those in the LGD sector seem optimistic. “The future of lab-grown diamonds shines brightly,” said Mr. Sojitra, “and the recent success of the JCK show serves as a testament to its tremendous potential. As this innovative industry continues to evolve, we witness a remarkable opportunity unfolding before us.”

With the release of image generators like DALL-E and Midjourney. large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT, whose underlying architecture powers Bing’s new search function, artificial intelligence and machine learning have moved into mainstream public consciousness. These tools have generated excitement about increased productivity and hand-wringing about the future of white collar jobs in equal measure, and businesses have rushed to incorporate AI into their operations out of fear of being left behind.

But AI is more than machine-generated images and text. Big businesses have been using AI for years in everything from automated production to inventory management to customer data collection and analysis. Many of these tools are now available to smaller businesses, as well. Such tools are worth adopting if you understand them, and the legal and ethical issues their adoption might raise, as best you can.

While we tend to imagine artificial intelligence in science-fictional (and often apocalyptic) terms—think Skynet from the Terminator films—the reality is far more mundane. But even if we don’t have to worry about machines coming to life and suddenly making decisions on their own, a poorly thought-out implementation of AI could do as much harm to your business.

In their webinar titled “Responsible AI Adoption: How to Seize AI Opportunities Ethically and Legally,” held last week, technology and business growth expert Andrea Hill and intellectual property attorney Michele Berdinis discussed the legal and ethical issues surrounding the adoption of AI. They discussed some of the legal risks and gray areas surrounding machine-generated content as well as the ethical issues involved in the training and implementation of AI tools. But rather than conclude that the entire field is just too complex and saddled with legal and ethical issues to even engage with, they outline exactly what the issues are and how best to navigate them to protect your business.

Ethical and Legal Concerns

Explainability: A large language model like GPT-4 can provide natural language answers to questions. Sometimes you can feel like you are talking to another person. But LLMs are not people, and there is no actual intelligence or sentience behind them. They are statistical models, like your phone’s autocomplete on steroids. They are trained on so much data and operate at such levels of complexity that working out precisely how they arrive at a certain answer is often impossible. This makes them less than trustworthy. When relying on a chatbot for answers, it’s always a good idea to verify those answers against another source. And when using AI for something like automated inventory management, you’ll want to know how exactly the AI is making its decisions.

A clear example of the importance of explainability involved the use of AI to determine whether an image showed a benign or malignant tumor. The AI flagged photos containing rulers as malignant. Because doctors often photograph a tumor they think might be cancerous beside a ruler, the AI essentially “learned” that there was a 100% correlation between rulers and malignant tumors. It was vital in this case that researchers could explain why and how the AI was making its decisions so that they did not come to false conclusions based on faulty reasoning on the part of the AI.

Bias and Discrimination: A lack of explainability and transparency extends beyond LLMs. Any kind of AI system is only as good as the data it is trained on and the algorithms it uses. If your tech partners can’t explain how their algorithms work, AI can lead you down the wrong path, giving not only incorrect analysis, but even leading you to do something discriminatory and illegal. For example, in 2017, the city of Rotterdam in the Netherlands began using AI to identify welfare fraud. The algorithm they used was poorly trained and singled out two groups for investigation: single mothers and refugees. The city spent time, resources, and money investigating these two demographics before realizing that its AI system was unfairly targeting two vulnerable demographics based on flawed training.

Copyright: The US Copyright Office has already determined that only works created by humans can be copyrighted. This means that any images or text you generate using AI is not truly yours in the legal sense—you don’t own it; in fact, nobody owns it. But there is a lot of gray area between “fully AI generated” and “human artist/writer assisted by AI,” and the ethics and legality of using AI generated text and image for commercial purposes haven’t yet been fully worked out.

The webinar and associated book also discuss ethical concerns about job displacement and dependence on technology, intellectual property infringement, privacy issues, misinformation, and regulatory compliance. These are all issues business owners must familiarize themselves with lest they repeat the mistakes in the above examples.

Don’t Be Afraid; Be Informed

While these issues might scare you away from AI, that is not the purpose of this article or the webinar. None of this to say that AI as a whole is dangerous or inherently unethical. In the rush to adopt new technologies, businesses simply have to equip themselves with knowledge and understand the legal and ethical pitfalls so they can ask the right questions and make informed decisions about implementation. In the future, AI-powered software for both operations and sales will no longer be a luxury but a necessity for running a modernized, competitive business. 

VDB has arranged for both a recording of the webinar and an ebook expanding on the webinar’s contents to be made available to the VDB community.

Watch the webinar: vdb.guru/ai-webinar

Download the ebook: vdb.guru/ai-book 

As we close in on the end of the first quarter of the 21st century, society at large is beginning to come to terms with a number of new technological developments that have the potential to revolutionize every sector of the economy. Whether blockchain, virtual reality, and artificial intelligence will bring on an upheaval as great as the Industrial Revolution or will turn out to be overhyped and underwhelming remains to be seen, but these technologies will certainly change the way we live and work in some capacity.

We are already seeing industry practices being shaped by consumer preference for personalization as well as sustainable and ethically sourced jewelry. These preferences will drive the adoption of new technologies that automate parts of the production process, assist in tracking and authenticating diamonds, provide novel and interesting shopping experiences, and help designers create custom pieces.

Overview of Trends

As we discussed in this month’s article on Gen Z consumers, consumers of luxury products are becoming increasingly concerned with the ethics and sustainability of these products. As a result, the lab-grown diamond industry, valued at $19.3 billion in 2020, is expected to grow to nearly $50 billion by 2030, according to Allied Market Research. While the industry currently produces nearly equal numbers of CVD and HPHT diamonds today, the CVD method will become the preferred method of diamond growth in the next decade as it is less costly and more energy-efficient than HPHT, which requires larger equipment and higher temperatures and pressures. As the public receives more education on lab-grown diamonds, the method by which a diamond is grown may become a factor in a consumer’s decision-making process.

In order to produce more personalized jewelry, designers have turned to new forms of automation. This may take the form of CRM software that makes it easier to communicate with customers and for employees at different levels of the sales and production process communicate with each other, or it may take the form of robotic arms assisting the jeweler at the bench, taking on repetitive tasks without replacing the jeweler’s creativity and expertise.

Future Developments

Blockchain

For years, blockchain and related technologies such as cryptocurrency and NFTs have seemed like a solution in search of a problem, but blockchain could find a practical application in diamond authentication. A blockchain is, basically, a spreadsheet or ledger that cannot be edited. So once a diamond is entered into that ledger, consumers can be sure of its authenticity. They will have confidence that the diamond originated where its certificate says it originated, and they will be able to track its entire journey from the mine it came out of to the jewelry it ended up in. Major companies such as De Beers and Brilliant Earth have already adopted this technology, and it could see widespread adoption throughout the diamond industry in years to come as consumers become more concerned with questions of sustainability and ethics.

Sustainability

Those questions of sustainability are already driving consumer interest in lab-grown diamonds. As the effects of climate change become more pronounced and people in power do little to mitigate the damage, citizens will act as consumers and seek out more environmentally friendly products. Supply chains will shorten and organizations that can move products from one place to another with the lowest carbon emissions will see their businesses grow.

Ecommerce

Already growing throughout the 2010s, ecommerce growth exploded during the pandemic. Once used mainly for smaller or inconsequential purchases, consumers are now comfortable making major luxury purchases online, and even as consumers can safely return to stores, many prefer the speed and convenience of ecommerce. Chatbots can provide instant answers to questions, and ecommerce platforms make cart management and checkout quick and easy.

None of this is exactly new, but what is changing is how consumers find your ecommerce business. Younger consumers are using social media such as TikTok and YouTube as search engines, turning to influencers and their peers for answers about products rather than Google.

Ecommerce businesses will also want to invest in automation for fulfillment. This doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll have a warehouse full of robots; AI-powered software for inventory management will help businesses stock the right products in an ever-changing online environment. See this month’s article on data analytics for more on that topic.

Virtual and Augmented Reality

We may also see more VR and AR used in ecommerce to give consumers an in-store experience at home. Already there are apps that allow users to import a photo of their hand and virtually “try on” rings. But apps aren’t just for ecommerce. More retailers are incorporating AR into their brick-and-mortar businesses to give customers a unique experience worth leaving the house for.

While there is clear potential for AR, VR has still not achieved widespread popularity despite massive investment into metaverse projects. Nevertheless, the technology will become less cumbersome and more practical as time goes on, so it will be worthwhile to keep an eye on this developing technology, even if it might not be worth it to jump into right now.

Preparing for the Future

And that’s what a lot of preparing for the future comes down to: keeping abreast of new technology, both the money behind it and consumer attitudes about it. Movements by people of various political persuasions are advocating for turns away from a global society connected by (and some would say controlled by) technology toward smaller, human connections.

We’ve seen widespread rejection of NFTs, but blockchain-enabled gem tracking seems like an actually useful technology. And while everyone laughed at Mark Zuckerberg’s legless metaverse, there are still useful, albeit limited, applications of AR and VR in retail spaces. This year, machine-generated image and text is all the rage, with Microsoft launching its ChatGPT-enabled Bing search, but worries about artists and writers being replaced wholesale are likely overblown—for now, at least. The practical applications of programs like ChatGPT are far more limited. Many of these technologies make big promises in hopes of landing big investment, so it is important to separate the hype from what they can actually do for your business.

It will still be important to keep abreast of these new developments and consider how they can help you without being swept away by the hype. Other technologies, such as CRM software, POS upgrades, and other applications that improve inventory management, employee experience, and customer experience, will continue to improve, and businesses will be wise to invest in both the technology and the people who can implement it.

In addition to implementing new technology, businesses should invest in ethical and sustainable practices. In the future, simply adhering to the Kimberley Process won’t be enough for some consumers. And in the absence of industry-wide standards, it will be up to retailers to work with suppliers, polishers, cutters, and manufacturers who voluntarily adhere to their own standards. 

When it comes to inventory decisions, there’s often a lot of guesswork involved. Guesswork informed by historical data—sometimes too much data to completely wrap your head around. Sometimes you might wonder if you’re not missing some key piece of information that could mean the difference between overstocking or understocking and getting it just right. And even if you’re good at analyzing the data and making inventory decisions yourself, you don’t have to spend valuable hours doing it all yourself anymore, not with all of the data analytics tools available today.

The Four Types of Data Analytics

• Descriptive Analytics: The raw numbers of your business, the data that describes how much you bought, how much you sold, how many customers you served, how many units you moved, etc. In the past, you would have recorded this data in spreadsheets or even by hand, but today, there is software that can do this for you.
• Diagnostic Analytics: This is where new technology really comes in handy. Software using statistics and algorithms can draw connections between different data points that are too complex or time-consuming for a human analyst to find.
• Predictive Analytics: Statistical models that can gather lots of historical data and make predictions about the future. Most small business owners are doing this already, though in a limited capacity, and with more limited data: We ran out of this item last February, so I will order extra this February. But by bringing together thousands of data points through descriptive analytics and using diagnostic analytics to make connections that a human observer might miss, predictive analytics can make more accurate and nuanced predictions about the future.
• Prescriptive Analytics: This is the cutting edge of data analytics, incorporating algorithmic and machine learning models that might not be accessible to every business. Prescriptive analytics combines the previous three types of analytics to give suggestions about what you should do next.

Together, these four types of analytics come together to give you a clearer picture of your business, showing you trends and forecasts you wouldn’t have been able to see using more traditional methods like Excel spreadsheets, statistical models, customer surveys, or economists’ predictions.

Why Use Data Analytics for Inventory?

As the above section shows, data analytics does more than tell you how much is coming in and how much is going out. It can also gather data on different types of consumers, helping you develop ideal customer profiles and buyer personas. You will get a clearer picture of who is buying from you as well as when, how much, and why they buy from you. This information will allow you to create separate marketing campaigns for each type of customer.

It will also help you to better understand seasonal patterns, new trends, and changes in consumer behavior gleaned from the large amounts of data your analytics software is working with. You’ll be able to make more accurate predictions and decisions about when to restock and how much of an item you should keep on hand. Acting with that kind of confidence is particularly empowering in a time of supply chain disruptions, an ongoing global pandemic, war, inflation, and changing consumer behavior.

There are risks that come with collecting the data necessary for this kind of analysis. It is best practice these days, when more and more consumers are becoming concerned about privacy, to make your data collection process as transparent as possible. Make sure you are adhering to all applicable laws concerning data collection, inform visitors to your website about cookies, and let subscribers to your email list know how their data will be used. It’s not so much that people are against sharing their information; they will share it with companies that they trust, so make sure you are working to earn their trust.

Conclusion

Deploying retail analytics does not mean you leave your business in the hands of computers and the people who know how to use them, however. You still have to know how to interpret the analysis, and you still have to use your own expertise, experience, and intuition to make the final judgment. But with retail analytics, you can be more confident that you are making the most informed decision possible.

Business-to-business (B2B) development is a vital component of any successful organization. Creating a business development plan can help your company to identify and capitalize on new opportunities, grow its customer base, and improve its revenue stream. In this article, we'll take a look at the steps you can take to create a B2B business development plan.

1. Set your goals

The first step in creating a business development plan is to set your goals. You need to know what you want to achieve so that you can develop a plan to get there. Your goals should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART). You should also prioritize your goals based on their importance and relevance to your business.

2. Identify your target market

The next step is to identify your target market. You need to know who your ideal customer is so that you can tailor your products or services to their needs. This involves researching your industry and analyzing your competitors. You should also gather data on your customers to understand their buying behavior, preferences, and pain points.

3. Develop a marketing strategy

Once you have identified your target market, you need to develop a marketing strategy to reach them. This can involve various tactics such as advertising, direct mail, email marketing, social media, and content marketing. Your marketing strategy should be focused on the channels that are most effective for reaching your target audience.

4. Create a sales strategy

Your sales strategy is how you will convert your leads into customers. This can involve identifying your sales process, training your sales team, and developing sales materials such as presentations and proposals. You should also track your sales metrics to measure the success of your strategy.

5. Establish partnerships

Partnerships are an important part of B2B development. You can partner with other businesses to expand your reach, share resources, and increase your credibility. This can involve forming strategic alliances, joint ventures, or referral partnerships. You should identify potential partners that share your values and have complementary products or services.

6. Build relationships with customers

Building relationships with your customers is key to maintaining long-term success. This involves providing excellent customer service, responding to their needs, and staying in touch with them regularly. You can also gather feedback from your customers to improve your products or services and develop new offerings.

7. Monitor your results

Monitoring your results is important to measure the success of your business development plan. You should track your sales metrics, marketing metrics, and customer metrics to see what is working and what isn't. You can use this data to refine your strategy and make adjustments as needed.

In conclusion, creating a B2B business development plan requires careful planning, research, and execution. By setting your goals, identifying your target market, developing a marketing and sales strategy, establishing partnerships, building relationships with customers, and monitoring your results, you can create a roadmap for success. With a well-executed plan, you can position your company for growth, profitability, and long-term success in the B2B market.

Consumers in general, and Millennial and Gen Z consumers in particular, are taking a more ethical approach to consumption. For the most part, they want not only high-quality products that look great; they will seek out brands that share their concerns for environmental sustainability and ethical labor practices.

For these consumers, the appeal of lab-grown diamonds is obvious. But what about consumers whose primary concern is not with sustainability? How do we best extol the virtues of lab-grown diamonds to the consumers who only want a great-looking diamond? For these other consumers, lab-grown diamonds still have a lot to offer beyond the (admittedly contentious) environmental benefits.

Lower Cost

The price of a lab-grown diamond fell between 20 and 33% between 2018 and 2022. The prices of the smallest lab-grown diamonds fell almost 50% in that time frame. Mined diamond prices remained relatively stable from 2012 to 2020 before dropping during the pandemic and rising sharply in early 2022. They have since fallen back to pre-pandemic levels, but they still remain far more expensive than lab-grown diamonds.

While a mined diamond can cost anywhere between $2,500 and $18,000 per carat, depending on the individual diamond’s 4Cs, a lab-grown diamond typically ranges from $1,000 and $6,000. A lab-grown diamond could cost up to 50% less than a comparable mined diamond.

LGD prices are expected to fall further in the future, but rising energy costs could slow the decline and stabilize prices, according to National Jeweler. At the same time, their report suggests, government investment into the LGD sector in India could help lower prices for LGD around the world.

“Sustainability” Doesn’t Tell the Whole Story

The notion that LGD prices could be stabilized by rising energy prices raises another point: LGD still require energy to create—energy that is just as likely to be created by oil, gas, or coal as it is by clean and renewable sources. It is difficult to quantify exactly how much energy goes into mining a diamond vs. growing a diamond, and unless diamond growers are intentional about their emissions and methods, there is a risk of overselling sustainability claims.

More Brilliance for the Buck

While the market for smaller lab-grown diamonds could shift to fashion jewelry, large, expertly cut lab-grown diamonds will likely remain a luxury product. The market for 3-5 carat lab-grown diamonds is growing, with luxury customers, who can afford mined diamonds, drawn to the idea of getting a much larger lab-grown diamond for the same price they would pay for a smaller mined diamond.

Dazzling Designs

Larger sizes for a lower price also means more ways for jewelry designers to express their creativity. Larger stones, more stones, diamond accents in designs featuring colored gemstones, pavé…the possibilities are endless. Designers can also have fancy colored diamonds in every shade to play with, as well. Lab-grown diamonds open all of these possibilities up to the diamond consumer.

Advances in technology and growing techniques means that all LGD on the market will soon be of equally high quality. All lab-grown diamonds are type IIA diamonds, colorless and free of inclusions. The difference between lab-grown diamonds of equal carat weight will be in the quality of the cut, and a masterfully cut lab-grown diamond will still be able to command a high price, but a far lower one than the same cut in a mined diamond.

Bottom Line

The traditional mined diamond engagement ring might be out of reach for many consumers, especially as middle-class Americans are looking to cut spending in the face of rampant inflation and increased costs of necessities. Lab-grown diamonds provide an option for people who couldn’t otherwise afford a diamond engagement ring. But diamonds won’t lose their aura of exclusivity in the face of ubiquity, as growers and retailers will market separate fashion and luxury brands.

American consumers are coming to accept lab-grown diamonds much quicker than consumers in other parts of the world. As lab-grown diamonds become ubiquitous, sales will be driven by marketing rather than rarity. Sustainability is one story we tell about LGD, but LGD will need more stories than that to capture consumer attention in a market where rarity and exclusivity is one of the main draws.

There’s more to lab-grown diamonds than sustainability. Understanding your customers and their desires will help you tailor a message about LGD that will resonate with them. 

As the world becomes increasingly digital, retailers are finding themselves competing with e-commerce giants like Amazon and Alibaba. To stay competitive, retailers must adapt to the changing landscape by incorporating technology in their physical stores to create better consumer engagement. In this article, we will explore some ways retailers can use technology to improve the in-store experience for their customers.

Interactive Displays

1. One way retailers can engage customers is by using interactive displays. These displays can showcase products and allow customers to interact with them in a fun and engaging way. For example, a jewelry store may incorporate a display that allows them to configure jewelry to incorporate different gemstones or other design options. By incorporating technology into these displays, customers can see how the products work and get a better sense of whether they are right for them.

Mobile Apps

2. Mobile apps can be a great way to engage customers and provide them with a seamless shopping experience. Retailers can use mobile apps to provide customers with personalized offers and discounts, as well as to allow them to make purchases directly from their smartphones. Mobile apps can also be used to send push notifications to customers, informing them of new products or special promotions. VDB’s Sales Genie makes it possible to showcase virtual inventory, select diamonds and gemstones, and communicate with suppliers - all without ever leaving the customer’s side.

Virtual Reality

3. Virtual reality (VR) is another technology that retailers can use to create better consumer engagement. By using VR, retailers can allow customers to experience products in a more immersive way. For example, a furniture store might use VR to allow customers to see how a couch would look in their living room. By providing customers with this kind of experience, retailers can create a more memorable shopping experience that is likely to result in increased sales.

Smart Mirrors

4. Smart mirrors are a relatively new technology that is being used by some retailers to improve the in-store experience. These mirrors use augmented reality (AR) to allow customers to see how they would look in different clothing items. By using a smart mirror, customers can see how clothes look on them without having to physically try them on. This can save customers time and make the shopping experience more convenient. Nobody is using this technology in jewelry stores yet (that we know of), but it is worthwhile to consider some applications that might make sense.

In-Store Analytics

5. In-store analytics is another technology that retailers can use to improve the shopping experience. By using sensors and cameras, retailers can track how customers move through the store and which products they spend the most time looking at. This information can be used to make better decisions about store layout and product placement. For example, if a certain product is frequently overlooked by customers, the retailer may choose to move it to a more prominent location.

Contactless Payment

6. Contactless payment is becoming increasingly popular, and retailers who do not offer this technology risk falling behind their competitors. By allowing customers to pay using their smartphones or contactless credit cards, retailers can create a more seamless shopping experience. Contactless payment can also help to reduce lines and wait times at the checkout.

Chatbots

7. Chatbots are another technology that retailers can use to improve customer engagement. By using chatbots, retailers can provide customers with instant answers to their questions, even when the store is closed. Chatbots can be used to provide customers with information about products and services, store policies, hours of availability, and help customers with any issues they may be experiencing.

Digital Signage

8. Finally, digital signage is a technology that can be used to create a more engaging shopping experience. By using digital signage, retailers can display dynamic content that is more eye-catching and engaging than traditional static signs. For example, a clothing store might use digital signage to display video content of models wearing their latest fashions.

In conclusion, technology is becoming increasingly important for retailers who want to create a better shopping experience for their customers. By incorporating interactive displays, mobile apps, virtual reality, smart mirrors, in-store analytics, contactless payment, chatbots, and digital signage, retailers can engage customers in new and exciting ways.

The pandemic (because every story begins with the pandemic now) necessitated changes in the way people shop, introducing ecommerce and BOPIS businesses that had never considered either service before and to customers who had never used either service before. Many brick-and-mortar stores did not survive the pandemic, and online retailers moved in to take up that space. It seemed like the days of the physical location were over, that everyone was going to shop from their couches on their smartphones, interacting more with the FedEx driver than any salesperson (or just waiting until the truck pulls away before opening the door—any kind of social interaction is too taxing).

But that didn’t happen. As soon as it was safe to do so, shoppers flocked back to stores and malls. What is it that they got from an in-person experience that they couldn’t get online? And how can brick-and-mortar retailers design their stores to meet the needs of the technologically connected, post-pandemic shopper?

A Sense of Community

Shopping is as much a leisure activity as a necessity of modern life. We spend our free time at the mall. We walk through downtown shopping districts just to have something to do on a weekend afternoon. Even when we don’t need something, we still go shopping because it’s fun and it’s a way to spend time with friends and family.

The stores we frequent can become like friends and family, and we come to love them as part of the fabric of our community. That sense of community is not something you can really get online, especially as more people come to realize the value of real, physical interactions. The retail experience in 2023 and onward should reflect these values and desires.

We often hear that customers want “experiences,” and this is what experiences are: a sense of community and social interaction. Design your retail space not only as a place to display products but also as a place to facilitate meet-ups, classes, and workshops.

Integrated Services

In an omnichannel approach, design and branding should be consistent across all platforms: website, social media, apps, and physical location. Shoppers should get the same experience in-store that they get online. If you’ve got a clean and minimalist web design, make sure your physical space matches that. If you’ve created a warm and welcoming physical space, bring that same energy to your online presence.

If your online presence is built around community engagement, soliciting customer reviews on your website and photos on social media, bring that same philosophy to your physical location. Arrange your displays and décor to make your products extra photogenic and to encourage selfie opportunities.

An integrated experience isn’t just about continuity between your online and brick-and-mortar aesthetic. It also means incorporating technology into your in-person shopping experience. Apps like the VDB Sales Genie allow you to display both in-store and virtual inventory and allow customers to interact with products before they can get them into their hands.

Minimalist Design

We’re all probably tired of so much change and uncertainty, but they’re both going to be with us for a while. Minimalist design offers the most flexibility to try different things and see what resonates with customers. It also lets you adapt your space for different purposes, such as community-building events.

Another advantage of a minimalist design is to give shoppers a little relief. Shopping online comes with the stress of information overload. There are so many brands selling so many products, and online marketplaces are stuffed with so many low-quality offerings from brands you’ve never heard of with wildly divergent customer ratings that it’s hard to know who to trust. It can be overwhelming. A calm, organized, minimalist store can be a refuge from all that, a place where a curious customer can speak with a knowledgeable, trustworthy salesperson.

While the luxury goods industry has grown steadily since the 1990s, the Covid-19 pandemic saw that growth stall. The industry recovered in 2022 as consumers spent the money they had saved during the pandemic, but 2023 and beyond will present its own challenges. As we head out of the pandemic years and into an era that will be defined by inflation, supply chain issues, raw materials shortages, and war, luxury retailers and suppliers alike can expect continued, albeit slowed, growth, with a few caveats.

While growth stalled during the pandemic years, we can expect that growth to resume, but at a slower rate than during the years between the recession of 2008-2009 and the pandemic. Research by Bain & Co. suggests that the luxury retail sector will see growth of anywhere between 3 and 8 percent in 2023. Part of this growth will be driven by Chinese customers returning to the luxury market. Even in the face of increasing Covid cases, China is easing restrictions, and Chinese citizens are eager to return to stores, take international vacations, and treat themselves with luxury purchases.

Inflation will continue into 2023, and experts believe it may end up pricing out middle class luxury consumers. But this logic might apply to luxury apparel brands more than jewelry brands, as jewelry is seen as more of an investment, or at least a more long-term purchase, than clothing. Clothing might fall out of fashion in a season or a year. Jewelry purchases, on the other hand, are often made with a lifetime of use in mind. Jewelry’s longevity could help sell it to customers who might otherwise be curbing their luxury spending. On the other hand, rising prices across the board could prevent consumers from making any sort of luxury purchases at all.

Middle-class luxury spending might slow down, but the highest income brackets (top 2%) make up 40% of luxury consumers, and these consumers will continue to spend. Their spending, however, will likely be concentrated within the biggest, priciest brands, such as Hermès, Balenciaga, or Chanel. Mid-tier luxury brands could suffer as a result.

While Covid in China and continued inflation might look bad in the short term, luxury sales are expected to increase 60% by 2030. The industry isn’t in crisis, or shrinking, or even stagnant; it is simply growing at a slower rate than in the past. If that all sounds a little uncertain, that’s because it is. Economists are predicting a recession coming in mid-2023 as the Fed still wrestles with inflation. The key to weathering this period is knowing your customers and controlling your inventory accordingly. Are they in that top 2% income bracket who will continue to spend? If so, how can you entice them to shop smaller or lesser-known brands rather than the Chanels of the world? And if they are middle or upper-middle income consumers, how can you position luxury jewelry as something more permanent than other, more ephemeral luxury purchases? Being able to answer these questions will help you to continue to grow your business in what is shaping up to be another challenging year.

Most economists agree that we are heading for a recession in 2023. The continuing war in Ukraine, soaring energy prices, rampant inflation, and higher interest rates are together brewing the perfect storm for an economic slowdown. A high level of household savings and a strong labor market might take the edge off, but all signs point toward some kind of recession this year.

For small businesses, much of the last decade has been about revitalizing downtown areas, creating a sense of community through civic involvement, and lobbying for public support in the face of the ever-expanding power of big box stores. These stores are typically located far away from the downtown areas where small businesses can be found, making Black Friday a dark day for these businesses and necessitating a promotional day of their own.

Small Business Saturday has been a success since its introduction in 2010, growing every year and accounting for $23.3 billion in revenue in 2021. This year, however, retailers across the country are expressing frustration with their low sales numbers for the day after Black Friday.

Earlier this November, YouGov reported that 59% of shoppers planned on participating in Small Business Saturday, up from 42% last year. Only 56% reported that they would participate in Black Friday. Based on this data, one would assume that Small Business Saturday 2022 would be a roaring success. So what happened?

LendingTree found that millennials are more likely to participate in Small Business Saturday than any other demographic, and those who make less than $35,000 per year are least likely. These two facts give us clues as to why Small Business Saturday was so dismal this year.

Millennials are historically values-based shoppers. Rather than seek out the cheapest products, they are typically more willing to spend money on something created ethically. Handmade or locally made products also appeal to their sense of environmental stewardship, as these items did not have to be shipped across the country or across the world.  The idea of their money remaining within the community also appeals to them, as the profits from their purchase will mostly benefit their local community, in the form of jobs, charitable donations from the business owners, and local taxes, rather than billionaires or stockholders in a faraway city.

However, millennials have been most negatively affected by inflation. Because of inflation, millennials have less discretionary income than previous generations when they were the same age (25-40). Many cannot afford to buy a home and have seen their rents increase by hundreds of dollars per month—nationwide, rents increased by 18% last year.

Small businesses are also feeling the squeeze of inflation. Even though they cannot typically afford the types of discounts offered by big box stores, their sales prices have often been enough to attract customers. This year, small businesses were not able to offer significant discounts as they struggle with higher rent and utilities costs as well as price increases from suppliers.

Most of the information available on this year’s Small Business Saturday is anecdotal, but small retail businesses across the country from every sector are saying the same thing: this year was a disappointment.

This Black Friday boasted the largest number of shoppers in Black Friday history, though overall sales numbers were down. Retailers are reporting something similar concerning Small Business Saturday, with an increase in foot traffic not translating to higher revenue. Just like this year’s Black Friday, Small Business Saturday wasn’t a boon for the jewelry sector, but many jewelers are confident of making up for it in December.

Is this the beginning of a trend? Is Small Business Saturday over? Far from it. Interest in the event only continues to grow, and this year, it brought out shoppers even though they didn’t seem to have money to spend. So people know about it, and it is a concept they want to support. It seems like that answer depends on whether or not inflation stabilizes and we can avoid a recession next year.

You’ve created a beautiful website, designed to industry standards. Whether you’re a retailer or a supplier, you’ve researched dozens, if not hundreds, of B2C or B2B sites, and you and your team have created something you know your customers will love. Everything they need is easy to find and attractive. The photos and product descriptions are on-point Purchasing and checkout is easy and secure. Just one problem: no one knows about it. Now what?

You built it, but they won’t just come. You have to market it. What exactly that marketing should look like has some overall guidelines, but there are some differences to consider whether you are a retailer or a supplier.

Search Engine Optimization

SEO is the art of getting your site to show up in search results ahead of someone else’s. SEO is a delicate art, though. It requires research of keywords, but you don’t want to just load your site up with keywords hoping to bring in visitors. Google’s algorithm frowns upon “black hat” SEO, as we detailed in our September newsletter (“Google Raises the Bar on Content Quality”). Its new algorithm will privilege “helpful content” in search results over “unhelpful content,” which consists of low-content websites packed with SEO keywords. So as you optimize your website to show up in search engines, make sure that your keywords appear naturally within content designed to actually help visitors answer their search questions. Which leads us to the next point…

Content Marketing

The best way to do SEO is by adding value. That is, by creating the kind of content potential customers are looking for. For retailers, this means knowing your customers and what kinds of questions they have when shopping. Value-added content marketing could include jewelry care tips, articles about the differences between mined and lab-grown diamonds, diamond grading, engagement ring traditions, birthstones, and the like. Content should be educational and entertaining, showing off both your expertise and dedication to customer service while also building relationships with potential customers.

For both B2C and B2B, content marketing is about solving problems and adding value, but suppliers might go about it in a different way. Have your marketing team communicate with your sales team to determine your customers’ pain points and address them in blogs, articles, FAQs, and product descriptions. Understand what kinds of information helps decision makers make decisions, and make sure that when content marketing leads them to your website, they are directed to that information.

Social Media

Add a link to your new website to the bio on all of your social media accounts, and make sure to link to it in posts, as well. These links will generate even more traffic if you give your followers a reason to visit the site beyond “we have a new site, come check it out.” Content marketing as outlined above is the way to do this. Also think in terms of a content funnel: design your social media posts to drive viewers to your website. Address problems in your tweets or TikTok videos and direct them to your website for more information or further solutions, for example.

Email Lists

For retailers with a physical location, email lists are a powerful tool for maintaining relationships with customers at every step of the journey, from discovering your brand to becoming a repeat buyer. When you launch or relaunch your website, offer promotions to your mailing list subscribers as a way to drive traffic to your site at launch.

Don’t forget about your Google Business Profile when updating all of your social media accounts. Our July newsletter has a whole article on getting the most out of your Google Business Profile to help you with this.

Press Releases

For suppliers, publishing a press release about your new or updated website in a trade publication is another proven method for getting your website in front of potential clients. A press release gives you immediate exposure to a specific audience, one that is looking for businesses just like yours. The publication of a press release also gives you something to talk about on social media or your website.

A new website won’t become a sensation overnight. It takes time and a concerted marketing effort to get your site in front of the eyes that need to see it. If you’re not seeing immediate results, stick with it! Using just one of these suggestions might bring you some success, but they all work better when used together as part of an overall marketing strategy.

We’ve all worked hard to establish relationships with suppliers. When you find one who is always on the same page, who always meets your needs, you might see little reason to change. But the past two years have called these traditional relationships into question.

The National Retail Federation (NRF) and the Loss Prevention Research Council (LPRC) have released a study on loss prevention in the retail industry. The study covers inventory shrink, employee integrity, and organized retail crime, offering insights into how major retailers are dealing with these issues.

In the face of an inflation crisis pushing consumers to their limit, Congress is looking to decline rising credit card swipe fees. As credit and debit become the preferred option for consumers, these fees can pile up for businesses. Only 12% of American consumers use cash on a daily basis, with credit or debit cards making up some 80% of all in-store transactions.

It is harder than ever to hire and retain employees. This is true for both B2B and B2C businesses in just about any industry, but it is especially difficult to find talented, reliable salespeople.