“If I take a look at the way forward for diamonds, it’s means past mining,” Cook dinner informed the Monetary Occasions. “I’m actually excited by the concept that we are able to actually deploy our full technique all the way in which to creating the world’s best jewelry maison [house], which might not be a pure a part of a mining firm.”
De Beers has a historical past of driving elevated demand for mined diamonds and its “Origins” technique seeks to do precisely that, with an emphasis on interesting to a brand new technology of shoppers.
The plan will contain revitalizing class advertising and marketing to spice up curiosity for diamonds, in addition to using modern strategies to maximise attain and affect, the corporate mentioned.
De Beers, which coined the slogan “Diamonds are Without end”, can be ditching man-made stones. This implies it could finish a six-year experiment to promote lab-grown diamond jewelry via its personal model, Lightbox, created in 2018.
Whereas the miner shouldn’t be halting the sale of its Lightbox stones immediately, it can start pondering of what to do with the unit as soon as it depletes present stock, which can take a couple of yr.
Seize the retail
Collaborating with retailers will likely be essential to this new strategy, De Beers mentioned. The profitable Seize the Day pilot marketing campaign, launched in September 2023, proved this level because it acquired assist from over 22,000 retail shops.
De Beers’ subsequent step is to develop strategic partnerships with main retailers, such because the collaboration with Signet Jewelers in the US, and a partnership with Chow Tai Fook in China.
De Beers already owns the Forevermark diamond model, which is offered via greater than 2,400 jewelry retail shops. De Beers has additionally launched devoted shops in 16 totally different markets, together with one on Madison Avenue in New York Metropolis and within the Houston Galleria. It additionally has the De Beers Jewellers web site.
Diamond miners giant and small have confronted challenges over the previous two years on account of rising shopper choice for cheaper, lab-grown diamonds, together with instability within the world financial system.
Shopper demand for diamonds was off in each China and the US final yr, which accounts for about half of the worldwide diamond jewelry market, in keeping with the World Diamond Council.
De Beers in January made one of many steepest cuts to its diamond costs in years, reducing them about 10%, in an try and revive gross sales after the market floor to a halt. Market insiders mentioned on the time the diamond miner had made even greater value reductions for some bigger stones, with one class being lowered 25%.
It additionally took measures relating to output. In April, it revised down its full-year manufacturing forecast to 26 million-29 million carats from the beforehand guided 29 million to 32 million. The corporate, which in February introduced a $1.6 billion writedown, additionally lifted anticipated common prices to $90 per carat, from $80.
De Beers is focusing on annual core income of $1.5 billion by 2028. Final yr, the enterprise made simply $72 million, although historically its income have ranged between $500 million and $1.5 billion because the diamond business swings from increase to bust.
The diamond miner appears able to fly alone because it did for 124 of its 136 years of existence. Anglo American solely acquired a 85% stake in De Beers in 2011. The federal government of Botswana holds the remaining shares.