MarketDirect Business Communications

30/09/2020

https://www.middiamonds.com/the-diamond-blog/first-celebrity-led-generic-diamond-marketing-campaignis-launched-during-2020-emmy-award-broadcast/

30/09/2020

https://www.middiamonds.com/the-diamond-blog/first-celebrity-led-generic-diamond-marketing-campaignis-launched-during-2020-emmy-award-broadcast/

22/09/2020

https://www.middiamonds.com/the-diamond-blog/as-israel-normalizes-relations-with-uae-and-bahrain-israeli-and-dubai-bourses-finalize-their-own-cooperation-deal/

13/09/2020

https://www.middiamonds.com/the-diamond-blog/as-a-potential-trade-war-brews-between-america-and-europe-mega-deal-between-lvmh-and-tiffany-seems-to-be-on-the-rocks/

08/09/2020

https://www.middiamonds.com/the-diamond-blog/with-rio-tintos-argyle-mine-closing-at-the-end-of-2020-one-of-its-last-ever-fancy-color-collections-released-for-tender/

06/09/2020

https://www.middiamonds.com/the-diamond-blog/with-chinese-government-asserting-political-control-questions-arise-about-hong-kongs-future-as-a-trading-center/

30/08/2020

https://www.middiamonds.com/the-diamond-blog/de-beers-and-alrosa-both-change-course-deciding-to-cut-prices-on-rough-diamonds/

Since the start of the coronavirus epidemic during the first quarter of the year, the world’s two largest rough diamond suppliers, De Beers and Alrosa, have consistently resisted calls to reduce the price of rough diamonds. At the same time, both companies relaxed rules governing their customers, ...

25/08/2020

https://www.middiamonds.com/the-diamond-blog/tucked-away-in-mountainous-african-kingdom-letseng-mine-produces-another-massive-rough-diamond/

The Letšeng Mine in the mountainous southern African Kingdom of Lesotho has produced another massive diamond, with its owner, Gem Diamonds, announcing that a 442-carat stone was recently recovered at the site.

23/08/2020

https://www.middiamonds.com/the-diamond-blog/tiffany-co-makes-diamond-tracebility-a-central-plank-of-its-marketing-strategy/

One of the world’s most recognizable jewelry brands, Tiffany & Co., has announced that it will be making diamond traceability a central component of it marketing strategy, by mapping out for customers the journey taken by any polished stone larger than 0.18 carats, from the mine through to the ret...

18/08/2020

https://www.middiamonds.com/the-diamond-blog/cautiously-omptimistic-signs-increase-about-market-recovery-toward-end-of-year/

As the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic passes the half-year mark, there at last appear to a be growing number of signs that the markets, while still depressed, could make a modest recovery toward the end of the year.

11/08/2020

https://www.middiamonds.com/the-diamond-blog/alrosa-keeps-up-rough-diamond-production-discovering-giant-intense-fancy-yellow-stone/

Despite the dramatic global slowdown in rough diamond supply, work continues at mines owned by Alrosa, the state-controlled Russian producer, which has just announced the discovery of a 236-carat intense fancy yellow colored diamond at the Ebelyakh mine, in the north of Yakutia, the autonomous area....

09/08/2020

https://www.middiamonds.com/the-diamond-blog/impacted-hard-by-the-global-pandemic-trade-shows-set-to-return-in-largely-virtual-formats/

There are few enterprises in the international jewelry industry that have been as severely impacted by the COVID-19 crisis as have been the trade show organizers, and there are few operations more likely to be fundamentally changed than trade shows.

04/08/2020

https://www.middiamonds.com/the-diamond-blog/fallout-from-global-pandemic-causes-de-beers-to-rethink-the-way-it-does-business/

With the diamond pipeline impacted significantly by COVID-19 pandemic, rough diamond sales by De Beers during second quarter of 2020 stood at $56 million, about 96 percent down from the figure reported for the same three-month period a year earlier. In the opinion of RBC Capital Markets, the diamond...

02/08/2020

https://www.middiamonds.com/the-diamond-blog/luxury-consultants-urges-companies-to-make-changes-to-adjust-to-the-world-that-will-exist-post-covid-19/

The COVID-19 pandemic has provided the luxury product industries an opportunity to rethink the way the way they do business. Many of the measures necessary may have had to be instituted at some time in the future, but they are more urgent now the current crisis has accelerated many consumer trends t...

31/07/2020

For 15 weeks from April 22, 2020, Jewellery Industry Voices has polled the opinions of industry leaders, experts and trendsetters, with the goal being to bet...

28/07/2020

https://www.middiamonds.com/the-diamond-blog/diamonds-highlight-the-return-of-live-jewelry-auctions-in-new-york/

With many of the action houses relying more on online bidding at any other time in their history, all as a result of the COVID-19 crisis, live auctions hope to make a triumphant return to Christie’s in New York on July 29, with Christie’s Magnificent Jewels sale becoming the first live jewelry a...

26/07/2020

https://www.middiamonds.com/the-diamond-blog/luxury-product-market-will-take-up-to-three-years-to-return-to-2019-levels-suggests-bcg-altagamma-study/

Even the most optimistic forecasts of the high-end luxury product show a fall in sales of luxury personal goods from 35 percent to 45 percent as a result of the current global pandemic, reports a study just released by Milan-based office of the Boston Consulting Group together with Altagamma, the fo...

23/07/2020

https://www.middiamonds.com/the-diamond-blog/covid-crisis-leads-to-lowering-of-tension-between-natural-and-lab-grown-diamond-sectors/

Is the COVID-19 crisis precipitating a truce or at least an agreed-to modus operandi between the natural and laboratory-grown or synthetic diamond sectors. Forbes contributor Pamela Danziger seems to think so. “In a global market transformed by COVID-19, the lab-grown and mined diamond industries ...

23/07/2020

https://www.middiamonds.com/the-diamond-blog/as-covid-19-continues-to-impact-in-diamond-centers-industry-leader-calls-on-governments-to-provide-support/

The diamond industry continues to be impacted by the ongoing coronavirus, particularly in India, which now is the country with third highest number of confirmed infections worldwide, and in Israel, which is struggling with the second wave of COVID infections after successfully getting through the fi...

12/07/2020

https://www.middiamonds.com/the-diamond-blog/de-beers-looks-at-consumer-behavior-during-health-crisis-physical-stores-preferred-but-feeling-safe-is-key/

Despite the lockdown and the increased comfort with shopping using the Internet, more than 62 percent of American consumers would still prefer to buy diamond jewellery at a physical store rather than online, according to new research published today by De Beers Group in the second of its Diamond Ins...

07/07/2020

https://www.middiamonds.com/the-diamond-blog/after-tough-months-of-lockdown-new-york-continues-a-phased-recovery/

New York, the gateway to the world’s most important diamond jewelry market, kicked off Phase 3 of its four-stage reopening process, and as the city that had been hardest-hit worldwide by the COVID-19 pandemic struggles to resurrect its economy.

30/06/2020

https://www.middiamonds.com/the-diamond-blog/independent-producer-petra-diamonds-put-up-for-salecovid-19-pushes-financially-strapped-miner-over-edge/

With the lockdown largely ended, China’s market is a quickly ramping up, wrote Lian Qiang, President of the Shanghai Diamond Exchange (SDE), in a blog published by the World Diamond Council (WDC) and could even beginning growing before the end current calendar year. But, he noted, the COVID-19 pan...

28/06/2020

https://www.middiamonds.com/the-diamond-blog/omnichannel-marketing-becoming-new-catchphrase-in-digital-physical-retail-environment/

It is a statement that has fast becoming a mantra during this period of global pandemic and social distancing – “the world as we know it will be forever changed” – and increasingly it becoming clearer that the business environment which will be one of those to be transformed most significant...

23/06/2020

https://www.middiamonds.com/the-diamond-blog/chinese-market-will-continue-growing-strongly-but-will-be-forever-changed-by-covid-19/

With the lockdown largely ended, China’s market is a quickly ramping up, wrote Lian Qiang, President of the Shanghai Diamond Exchange (SDE), in a blog published by the World Diamond Council (WDC) and could even beginning growing before the end current calendar year. But, he noted, the COVID-19 pan...

22/06/2020

https://www.middiamonds.com/the-diamond-blog/covid19-places-the-wedding-industry-on-hold-but-the-slowdown-will-likely-be-temporary/

19/06/2020

https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_rRp5u-AuTKyitj-XYMNQEw
CIBJO INVITES YOU TO JOIN A 'JEWELLERY INDUSTRY VOICES' ROUND TABLE DISCUSSION THAT LOOKS AT WHETHER RETAIL, AS WE KNOW IT, IS BEING FOREVER CHANGED

There was an axiom about the three most important words in the retail trade, and they were "location, location, location." It was all about commercial real estate, and in the jewellery business it was what first drove traders to the high street, top of the line brands to Fifth Avenue, Place Vendôme and New Bond Street, and many thousands of chain stores into the shopping malls. But in the post-COVID world will it a be a maxim that still rings true?

Omni-channel marketing is the new catchphrase in the retail market, and it is a discipline where the lines between the physical and digital are becoming blurred, and both are increasingly dependant upon the other. Those retailers that are reluctant to embrace it, run the risk of becoming extinct. "Channels are multiplying – providing more opportunities to interact and engage with consumers," noted the Boston Consulting Group in a recently released study of the retail sector. "Because of the growing market complexity and heightened consumer expectations, retailers must have a strong, dynamic, multi-channel strategy."

The next Jewellery Industry Voices webinar will take the form of a Round Table Discussion, and will feature an open-ended discussion between three experts on the critical topic of "Will retail, as we know it, be forever changed?"

Among the participants will be Ashley Dudarenok, a China marketing expert, best selling author and vlogger, who was recognised as a LinkedIn Top Voice in Marketing in 2019. She is the founder of the China-focused social media marketing company Alarice and ChoZan, a China insights and training company. She will be joined by Thomas Baillod, a consultant to the Swiss watch industry and founder of the Watch Trade Academy, who has been advocating for the digitalisation of the marketing and distribution models used in the sector; and Stephane Fischler, Chair of CIBJO's Technology Committee, who will lead the discussion.

The webinar, on Thursday, June 25, 2020, will be facilitated by Edward Johnson and Steven Benson, and hosted by CIBJO President Gaetano Cavalieri. It will start at 9:00 AM New York, 2:00 PM London, 3:00 PM Milan, 5:00 PM Dubai, 6:30 PM Mumbai, 9:00 PM Hong Kong.

CIBJO's Jewellery Industry Voices webinar series is produced with the support of the Italian Exhibition Group, organiser of the VICENZAORO jewellery shows.

Register in advance for the FREE webinar

Thursday, June 25, 2020
9:00 AM New York, 2:00 PM London, 3:00 PM Milan, 5:00 PM Dubai, 6:30 PM Mumbai, 9:00 PM Hong Kong

https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_rRp5u-AuTKyitj-XYMNQEw

26/05/2020

https://www.middiamonds.com/the-diamond-blog/jewelry-still-sells-on-mothers-day-even-during-the-covid-19-pandemic/

Mother’s Day has traditionally offered a strong selling opportunity to the jewelry industry, but with the world caught in the grip of the COVID-19 pandemic, questions were being asked whether 2020 would prove an exception to the rule. Actual sales data is not yet available, but indications is that...

24/05/2020

https://www.middiamonds.com/the-diamond-blog/economic-fallout-may-eclipse-health-effects-in-africas-informal-diamond-mining-sector/

While the COVID-19 is certainly a threat to the artisanal diamond mining communities in African, the economic effects could outweigh the health effects, reports the World Diamond Council (WDC) in its latest newsletter.

17/05/2020

https://www.middiamonds.com/the-diamond-blog/as-higher-value-jewelry-is-being-sold-online-at-auctionsothebys-and-christies-contemplate-major-change/

There are many business sectors that are likely to be inexorably changed once the COVID-19 crisis comes to an end. One of the them is auction houses, which have quickly pivoted to online sales, with a degree of some success.

10/05/2020

https://www.middiamonds.com/the-diamond-blog/battered-by-the-covid-19-pandemicbelgium-starts-edging-its-way-out-of-lockdown/

06/05/2020

https://www.middiamonds.com/the-diamond-blog/with-recovery-from-covid-19-on-the-horizon-six-luxury-trends-to-consider/

2020 will be a year that the luxury markets would prefer to forget, write Jean-Noël Kapferer and Jean Revis in a recent edition of the respected Business of Fashion journal. However, it is not a question of if the luxury markets will recover from the COVID-19 crisis, but rather of when. But when th...

04/05/2020

https://www.middiamonds.com/the-diamond-blog/as-indian-industry-contemplates-exit-from-lockdown-increasing-calls-for-moratorium-on-rough-imports/

The giant Indian cutting industry will play a key role in the recovery of the diamond sector from the extended global lockdown that had been instituted as a result of the COVID-19 coronavirus. But with the pipeline already clogged with excess rough supply before the start of the crisis, calls are gr...

28/04/2020

https://www.middiamonds.com/the-diamond-blog/as-economies-begin-to-emerge-from-lockdown-diamond-and-jewelry-industries-wonder-about-the-future/

On December 31, the municipal health commission in Wuhan, China, reported a cluster of unusual pneumonia cases in the city, and six days later the World Health Organization issued a disease outbreak report. This was soon identified by genetic sequencing as a novel coronavirus and evidence indicated....

26/04/2020

https://www.middiamonds.com/the-diamond-blog/with-indian-diamond-industry-and-markets-in-lockdown-mining-companies-adopt-different-coping-strategies/

With many of the world’s major diamond markets in lockdown as a result of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, mining companies are feeling the heat. Among the latest to reveal this predicament is the De Beers Group, whose parent company, Anglo America, revealed that it has cut its production foreca...

22/04/2020

https://www.middiamonds.com/the-diamond-blog/presidency-of-world-diamond-trades-premier-organization-returns-to-ramat-gan/

History was made on April 20 – quietly in the turmoil of the ongoing CIVID-19 pandemic – when the presidency of the diamond trade’s premier representative organization, the World Federation of Diamond Bourses (WFDB), returned into Israeli hands.

19/04/2020

https://www.middiamonds.com/the-diamond-blog/while-the-initial-impact-of-covid-19-crisis-severe-luxury-brands-optimistic-there-will-be-silver-lining/

At the end of March, the consulting firm Boston Consulting Group is revised down its earlier negative forecast on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on luxury sales. Brands, it stated, should prepare for a decline in sales of between $85 and $120 billion in 2020, equal to about 29.2 percent of the....

14/04/2020

https://www.middiamonds.com/the-diamond-blog/as-governments-consider-exit-strategy-from-covid-crisis-eyes-turn-to-china-for-indication-where-market-is-headed/

As governments begin considering an exit strategy from the COVID-19 shutdown, members of the luxury sector are looking to China, where the epidemic first began but over the past month has being reopening for business.

07/04/2020

https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_ch7z_q5ZR_u5CjnRC43WFg

Join and at HomeGemology for the upcoming session on natural pearls.
https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_ch7z_q5ZR_u5CjnRC43WFg

05/04/2020

https://www.middiamonds.com/the-diamond-blog/while-the-markets-are-still-in-crisis-its-time-to-consider-the-post-cornavirus-world/

It may seem early to some, but the time has arrived to beginning thinking about the world after the COVID coronavirus virus. Whether that is a matter of months or more than a year away, most analysts agree that the effects will be substantial, and often in ways that are unexpected. The diamond busin...

31/03/2020

https://www.middiamonds.com/the-diamond-blog/with-growing-calls-for-an-independant-sales-structure-wfdb-says-it-plans-to-set-up-online-trading-platform/

With a growing chorus in the diamond industry calling for an independent and non-partisan online diamond-trading platform, the World Federation of Diamond Bourses (WFDB) has announced that it has decided to create a system of its own.