Charles Stanley’s notes on Forevermark

After speaking with Forevermark CEO Stephen Lussier in London a few weeks ago, Charles Stanley, who heads De Beers’ branded diamond program here in the United States, took some time last week to provide more specifics on how Forevermark will work in the U.S. market.

This upcoming week marks a big one for the launch of Forevermark here, as De Beers will unveil the marketing plans for its branded diamond to retailers at the Las Vegas jewelry shows.

Forevermark already is available via pilot sale programs at two retailers, Borsheims in Omaha, Neb. and five San Diego-area Ben Bridge Jewelers.

Forevermark will launch in the fourth quarter. Though Lussier said that he’s more concerned with doing it right then rushing to market before the program’s ready, a Forevermark executive told me they are “definitely” launching in the United States at the end of the year and will be sharing their plans with Forevermark retailers in Las Vegas.

Retailers will be able to sell Forevermark jewelry online (and in fact they already are). But they won’t be allowed to sell Forevermark loose diamonds on the Internet, Stanley said. And the price of the online product has to be the same as what they are charging in the store. Stanley said he doesn’t seem inter-market competition as being a big issue because so much of what drives people to shop online over going to stores these days is price--which won’t be an issue here--and because retailers have the freedom to create their own designs. A customer that sees a piece they like at Jeweler A won’t necessarily be able to find that same design and buy it online from Jeweler B.

He added that the nature of the program, which includes a viewer customers can use to see the Forevermark inscription, lends itself to more in-store sales and that’s where he expects jewelers to do the majority of Forevermark business.

“We’re not frankly expecting a lot of diamond sales to be made online. We fundamentally believe that to get the full experience of buying a diamond it needs to be done in store,” he said.

Discounting is a no-no. Stanley said there are clauses in the retailers’ contracts that pertain to discounting. And though he wouldn’t say if markdowns are strictly forbidden, he did say this: “We don’t see this as a product that should be heavily discounted or marked down.”

The cost of the program is...$10,000 per year for a store.

De Beers doesn’t see Forevermark as conflicting with the De Beers Diamond Jewellers stores it operates through a joint venture with LVMH. Forevermark enables retailers to use the equity of the De Beers Group name and extend it to their customers through a separate brand, Stanley said. He said one element of the program that further sets Forevermark apart is the fact that each of these diamonds go through the Forevermark Diamond Institute (FDI) in Antwerp.