TD Sales Tip – Teach your customers about the real impact of fluorescence on a diamond’s appearance

95 % of Indian solitaire buyers want a none fluorescence stone. Most of them believe that a fluorescence stone is one which is milky in appearance.

And because their customers are adamant on buying none fluorescence diamonds, most jewellers are also looking for none fluorescence stones.

Can’t blame them can we? After all they have to provide what the customer asks for.

Not really. The blame still lies entirely upon them. In fact, most of them are letting go of a great business opportunity.

They need to take the blame because most of the diamond education in this country has been done by jewellers. And therefore, the jewellers are solely responsible for the fluorescence related education of their customers or the lack thereof.

A few of them are probably not aware of the true affect of fluorescence. But all in all they have simply decided to take the safest route by deciding to just stick to none fluorescence stones and not bother with fluorescence diamonds at all. As if fluorescence stones are from some other mysterious world and should be avoided at all possible costs.

Jewellers are not interested because customers don’t want it. And customers don’t want it because jewellers are not trying to sell them. This intertwining has created a perfect vicious circle
which has ensured that nobody wants anything to do with fluorescence diamonds.

And now for some hard facts

Fact 1 – A thorough study was conducted by GIA in 1997 to test the affect of fluorescence on the appearance of diamonds. This results of this study suggested that fluorescence makes very little difference.

Fact 2 – Fluorescence stones are rarer to find and are priced lower than none fluorescence stones.

Thanks to facts 1 and 2, there is clearly a business opportunity if a jeweller can convince his customers to buy fluorescence diamonds. He will be able to buy and sell for lower prices. And at the same time, he will not have to worry about competition as none of the other jewellers will be capable of selling fluorescence diamonds.

He will also need a source which can offer him an inventory of fluorescence diamonds.

With TradersDiamonds, you will have a sizable inventory of fluorescence diamonds. We are not prejudiced against fluorescence stones. We have always tried to educate jewellers about fluorescence diamonds.

And now we will help you convince your customers as well. For this we will rely upon the findings of the GIA study. We have a copy of the study report and we are willing to share it with anyone who wants a copy. We suggest you read through it. Having done that you will be in a better position to explain the affect of fluorescence on the appearance of diamonds to your customers. If required you can even share the report with your customers. GIA is the world’s foremost authority on diamonds and we are confident that customers will trust their assessment.

Armed with the knowledge to sell fluorescence diamonds and an inventory of such stones from TradersDiamonds, you will soon start to sell fluorescence diamonds on a regular basis.

The opportunity is there. Some of our customers are already benefitting from the pricing advantage and selling fluorescence stones regularly.

You can do the same. Sphere: Related Content

How to use fluorescence to help identify a synthetic diamond

The natural diamond is on the left and the synthetically treated one on the right. Check out the distinct difference in fluorescence.

A natural diamond that fluoresces will typically display a blue fluorescence to long-wave ultraviolet radiation and weaker, often yellow fluorescence to short-wave UV. An HPHT-grown, synthetic diamond will usually fluoresce yellow to yellowish green to both long- and short-wave UV, with a brighter reaction to short-wave UV. The synthetic diamonds' different crystal growth structures show up as a distinctive cross-shaped pattern to both long- and short-wave UV. Check out the images above to understand the difference.


Courtesy GIA
Sphere: Related Content

TradersDiamonds gets its first sale from Facebook

Facebook was a social networking site they said.

Facebook wasn’t a place where you could target jewellers or other members of the diamond trade they said.

We still kept trying.

We kept getting visitors, inquiries and fans.

That is all that you will get they said.

But then we got a sale and a decently big one at that.

A four carat pair.

The jeweller also happened to be our first customer from that particular city.

Facebook can generate sales and help you reach out to customers from all nooks of the country and abroad.

There is more to it than just social networking.

Go Facebook. Sphere: Related Content

GIA to offer Sealed Packing for Diamonds

A Diamond Sealing Service is now available for D-to-Z diamonds that carry a GIA Diamond Grading Report or a GIA Diamond Dossier®, and colored diamonds holding a GIA Colored Diamond Grading Report.

The new service seals the diamond with its key grading information in a credit card sized, tamper-resistant package that keeps the stone, its report number and primary gemological details (report date, shape and the Four Cs) in a secure, easy-to-display packet.

“GIA has been vigorously offering a wider array of services to accommodate the needs of its many different customers throughout the industry and the general public,” said GIA President and CEO Donna Baker in announcing the Sealing Service at the IIJS Show in Mumbai earlier this month. “In particular, we are interested in offering services that promote worldwide industry standards and reinforce consumer confidence.”

The sealed package contains multiple security features, including the GIA hologram, which is proof that the diamond has been graded by GIA and that the information in it matches the stone. These features will help prevent attempts to misrepresent the item and its report.

The Sealing Service can be ordered at the time of grading for a fee of US$9 per stone. Diamonds can also be resubmitted for the Sealing Service for the same charge, with an additional grading fee applied. The service can be requested at all GIA Laboratory or take-in locations worldwide, as well as online through GIA’s client portal, “My Laboratory.”

News courtesy GIA website.

Our thoughts on the new service.

This is definitely another boost for educated buying and selling in India. Checking the laser inscription on the girdle wasn't a possible thing to do for every customer. Many customers looking for seal-packed stones weren't looking at GIA stones at all. It will also be easier to re-sell GIA sealed stones. Great news for sure. Sphere: Related Content

Looking back at IIJS 2009

The IIJS has been steadily growing in prominence over the years becoming India’s largest, Asia’s 2nd largest and World’s 5th largest show. So how did the 2009 event fare and what could be its implications on the diamond industry.

One of the big winners at the show was the jewellery products, which was expected considering that the marriage and festival seasons, are just around the corner. Keeping this in mind, both, international and national vendors displayed a lot of very innovative designs. There were a wide range of latest international designs on display and these stalls saw a lot of interest and action.

The other section which attracted buyers in huge numbers was the machinery section, where customers flocked to see the latest technological advancements related to the gem and jewellery industry. This was a clear reflection of the fact that Indian manufacturers and retailers want to attain world-class standards and are willing to make the necessary up gradations in equipments required to do so.

As for loose diamonds, the major demand was for the goods which have become extremely scarce and expensive locally, namely the H/I/J colours in VVS and VS clarities. There was also a significant demand for 5 to 10 carat stones which showed that India has a healthy demand and is increasingly developing a penchant for large stones.

However, as has always been the case the Indian buyers were extremely price conscious and looking for prices that weren’t available locally. As a result, transactions were few in number. The problem was compounded by the fact that most Indian buyers were looking for rupee prices. The perennial issue of unnecessary import taxes also played a role in reducing the volume of actual business.

While there were enough deterrents to business and a few international vendors complained that you can do business in India only if you are willing to compromise your profit margins, there was no shortage of participants who were impressed by the humongous potential of the Indian market.

There was a common consensus that India probably happens to be only market where local consumer demand is still strong and largely unaffected by the global recession. Profits might be thin and conditions difficult but if you want to increase your market share, you cannot ignore India and you have to be active in this market.

The event further raised the stock of the IIJS show and of the Indian diamond market.

India has long established itself as the largest exporter of cut and polished stones.

But now it is coming into its own as a massive demand creator thanks to a population of 1.3 billion and a surging middle class with substantial disposable income and growing appreciation and love for diamonds.

IIJS 2009 validated this and things will only get better from here on. Sphere: Related Content

Israeli Diamond industry going the e-commerce route in a big way - how do Indian companies compare

In an interesting development, which further reinforces the importance of the role the internet has to play in the modern diamond trade, the Israel Diamond Institute (IDI) group of companies is helping the Israeli diamond industry utilize the power of the World Wide Web to full advantage through their “Together Works” program.

As part of this program, the Israeli companies are being given free professional consultation on everything – right from website development and online marketing tools to creating web content and drafting terms and conditions.

The response to this program has been tremendous and a large number of companies are participating in this. Clearly they realize that an online business helps them to reach out to far more customers at a substantially lower cost.

While the internet revolution was expected sooner or later; thanks to the precedent set by American companies, the process of change was hastened by the economic crisis as companies looked out for ways to become leaner and more cost effective.


The American diamond industry already has a substantial e-commerce footprint and now Israel is taking massive strides to get there. Where does the Indian industry stand in the middle of all this? India is the world’s largest exporter of cut and polished stones but what about our position in the online stakes.

India is not doing too badly either. We don’t have an IDI to lend a helping hand but thanks to being the IT capital of the world, a lot of Indian companies have set up their websites. Most of these are fairly basic but a few have advanced functionality too.

The biggest challenge however is not about technological capability. It’s about wholeheartedly adopting the online way – truly believing in the advantages of an e-commerce business and molding other business practices accordingly. We often talk about changing consumer mindsets. The bigger challenge is for the trade to change their mindset.

Once we can do that it will just be a matter of time before Indian diamond companies rule the e-commerce business as well. Sphere: Related Content

Diamond Selling Tips – How jewellers can use SMS updates of Hot Diamond Deals

The response to the SMS updates of HOT DIAMOND DEALS has been pretty encouraging thus far. We have sold a few stones listed as the deal for the day and there have been others who have signed up to receive the updates. Someone even called to inquire for the deal and ended up buying something else.

But what warms our cockles more than anything else is the discovery that some jewellers have started forwarding the SMS updates to their regular customers on an ongoing basis and in the process they have managed to create new demand for themselves.

Thanks to the slow market demand, jewellers are not too keen on buying for stock, irrespective of the attractive prices of the Hot Diamond Deals. The only way a sale can happen is if the final decision maker, the end customer, finds the offer attractive and decides to buy.

The SMS process ensures that end customers – people who are the real decision makers and are interested in good deals, come to know about a good offer immediately. They can take a call quickly and the jeweller can go ahead and buy the diamond.

This is exactly what happened in most of the cases where the diamond in the Hot Diamond Deal got sold.

The jeweller provides an additional service and customers have been responsive.

What one can do, everyone else can do.

Some of the jewellers have shown the way – effectively starting an SMS deal updates for their set of customer.

It’s time for other jewellers to give it a shot. Sphere: Related Content