The man-made diamond industry does not stop surprising both traders and consumers with new whirls of popularity. It seems that no one product had so extremely short transformation path and steaming grows except for man-made diamonds. They needed a couple of years to transmit from unacceptance to acknowledgment; then to change their status from being an artificial fake copy to an ethical and identical alternative to natural diamonds; and finally, to grow from a small challenging segment to a huge industry with promising perspectives. Even when the most prominent experts and analytics put these perspectives under question saying that the man-made diamonds industry exhausted its potential, the man-made diamonds segment comes with a new wave of surprising growth.
Thus, just a few months ago analyst Paul Zimnisky predicted man-made diamond industry a decline in sales. Referring to the consumers’ perception of man-made diamonds as not an innovative product anymore, he claimed that “he expected jewelry retailers to return their focus to natural diamonds this year”. Zimnisky accented that he meant huge-size diamond first of all since consumers had a clear association with “huge diamond-low pricea”. This association is inextricably linked to another one ‘huge diamond – synthetic diamond”.
So, if you wear a huge diamond, your jewelry for sure is synthetic and this means you have no money for natural diamonds. According to Zimnisky, considering the fact that man-made diamond is not an innovation like it was a few decades ago, wearing big stones seems to become a sign of bad taste and can push a return to traditional natural gems.
This reasoning could have worked a century ago but not today. The greatest European trader Madestone Company is convinced that the innovativeness of the man-made diamond is not a matter of technology but it is a matter of modern thinking and thus product’s timeliness.
The biggest value of man-made diamonds is freedom, which they are bringing to people. People, who prefer man-made diamonds are free in their choice of size and color, price and designs, ethical and aesthetical values, and, among others, they are free in ascribing a set of personal values and developing a unique sense of wearing them, except for environmental thinking. Now, we have the age of freedom. So, what do we get when the value of the product complies with the value of the customer? Sure, we have a unique synergy and growth in sales.
The following news goes as confirmation of this idea: The world’s top jewelry maker anticipates an 8-10% rise in organic sales. The reason for this is increased revenue in the first quarter of the year, which overcomes analysts’ predictions. As it was mentioned above, previously different market observers predicted a shift in focus from man-made diamonds to natural gems and expected no more than 1% of the organic growth. Pandora, the Danish jewelry maker, reported quarterly sales of 9.9 billion Danish crowns ($1.43 billion), above an average forecast of 9.6 billion in a poll of analysts compiled by the company. The Danish jewelry giant aims at over $130mln in revenue by 2026 and these expectations are fueled by an 87% surge in lab-grown diamond sales in the first quarter of 2024.
There is a moment for a “minute of information” to explain what organic growth is and why it is such a meaningful indicator for the man-made industry.
So, organic growth is the process of generating growing revenues within the company by using its own operations and resources. In fact, companies use two major strategies to grow their sales – organic and inorganic. The investors pay close attention to both of them but organic growth is that point, which serves as a test for the business effectiveness. Being able to increase sales organically normally means the business has an efficient revenue generation model and may be expanding its market share of an existing product or service, or has developed additional channels. In contrast, the inorganic approach includes acquiring other companies and their stake in the market to increase sales when there is no potential to increase sales organically.
If speaking in other words and being brief, one can tell that organic growth in man-made diamond sales means that the industry still has an organic potential, meaning organic demand from the consumers, to stay in the top sales market positions.
How strange it might sound but many consumers and traders believe that the secret of organic sales is in the organic nature of man-made diamonds. They are ethical products since there is no need to violate the natural environment and ruin the ecosystems to get a single gem. Many diamonds of different sizes and colors can be grown in a few hours in laboratory settings under human control. There is no threat of getting unexpected results as it was in the case with natural diamonds when miners needed to dig huge areas and could find nothing. Innovative technology made the process highly controlled and predictable: producers can control not only gems’ look (outside features) but they also control quality.
That is why, it is possible to experiment and launch improvements, which result in high-quality standards of the industry.
Summing up, one can say that people love man-made diamonds because of the following:
- Preserving all the best features of everlasting human love – natural diamonds – lab-grown diamond offers a conflict-free, traceable alternative;
- While appreciating the demand for the elegance of sustainable luxury, the man-made diamond industry allows prioritizing ethical choices without compromising on style;
- Exquisite man-made diamond jewelry not only enhances the look but also reflects consumers’ commitment to a lighter environmental footprint, perfectly aligning with their values.
There is no sign that these points are going to be changed soon but, vice versa, the organic accent will become more and more bold. So, organic products, most likely, will be developing with growing sales. One can see this clearly when monitoring how laboratories are trying to be more sustainable and environmentally friendly. Some companies, like Madestones, have been certified Carbon Neutral, while others, like Greenlab Diamonds, use solar energy to decrease a carbon footprint. Many others are trying to come up with innovative ideas and industrial approaches like making diamonds from the air or cremation ashes. This is not a limit but, most likely, a step toward a new dimension of innovativeness and a new wave of popularity.
A little bit of figures to confirm this perspective. The global market share by value of lab-grown gems rocketed from 3.5 per cent in 2018 to 18.5 per cent in 2023 and will likely exceed 20 per cent this year. Yet, if you have read this article attentively, you can predict that sales can again overcome the expert predictions as it was happening from year to year during the last half of the century.
So, if you believe in ethical organic tendency and market predictions, you can see that now is a good moment for thriving into the man-made diamond industry. Do not lose this moment!
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