What does a Woman Want?

What does a woman purchaser want?

At the Antwerp conference gala dinner I was sitting with some government officials.  One of the ladies had an expensive looking handbag which prompted a discussion about accessories versus jewellery.

The young lady had spent approximately $700 on her handbag, which is not considered a long lasting artefact.  Fashions change and leather wears out, and within two years this handbag will be history.  She explained that she did not want to spend the $700 on diamond jewellery because, “what can you buy for $700?”  The average price of a piece of diamond jewellery sold in the US is not far from $700, so in theory the young lady should have had quite a broad selection to choose from.

This encapsulates the challenge facing our industry, how to convince women who are willing to spend significant sums of money on themselves to spend it on jewellery.

Tiffany, has noticed this trend and is opening 70 stores in the US that are targeted at the non-bridal jewellery market, with products priced from $100 to $15,000 almost all without any diamonds.  These stores will target female purchasers and are expected to be more profitable as they will not carry engagement rings, which is Tiffany’s least profitable product range.

The aim of this article is not to tell diamantaires wow here is the solution to all of your problems.  The opposite is true - this is your problem.

The woman buying accessories for herself will spend big money, but it is not going on diamond jewellery.  She prefers fashion items with a short lifespan over diamond jewellery which she can keep forever.  Mr Padwa explores this further on page X.

The diamond industry has invested a lot of time and money in market research and various campaigns implemented.  Men will still pop the question with a diamond ring and keep the jewellery stores in business in November and December, but all of those women who shop for themselves are spending in a different direction.

If Tiffany aims to bring these women into its stores, without diamonds, the diamond jewellery industry is doing something wrong.  Could this be a long term effect of blood diamonds?  Or do the marketing gurus understand how men buy jewellery for women, but not how women spend on themselves.

Or as Freud put it, “The great question that has never been answered and which I have not yet been able to answer, despite my thirty years of research into the feminine soul, is 'What does a woman want?'”  Tiffany thinks they have, at least, a partial answer.

editor@diamondfinance.info