IDEX Poll: Some Spend Over 10% on Marketing, Some Not at All
August 18, 05
What percentage of your annual turnover do you spend on advertising and marketing? It probably depends on where you operate in the diamond pipeline. The latest IDEX Online poll shows that spend widely varies from none to over 10 percent.
29 percent of respondent to the poll said they spend less than 1 percent of their annual turnover on advertising and marketing.
19 percent of responders said they spend 1-5 percent of their turnover on advertising and marketing and another 19 percent spend anywhere between 5 and 10 percent.
The surprising result is that nearly a quarter, 24 percent of responders, said they spend over 10 percent of their turnover on advertising. We find it surprising because luxury retailers usually spend about 10 percent on their various promotional efforts. Is it possible that competition is getting tougher and as a result more is put into standing out?
Finally, 10 percent of respondents to the weekly poll told us they do not spend anything on marketing themselves. In an era of vertical integration, perhaps this should be the surprise.
Join us this week as the debate over the European Union’s decision on the De Beers – Alrosa deal is starting to heat up. As you might know, in December of 2001 the two companies signed a five-year, $4 billion, trade agreement.
Over a year later, in January 2003, the EU published objections to the agreement and since than the diamond companies have offered to decrease trade between them over a period of several years. Since the previous agreement between the miners expired, and while the EU is in deliberations, they are trading on a willing buyer/willing seller basis. According to market data, Alrosa has sold no more than $650 million annually to De Beers since that time.
Some in the industry claim that the EU is not seriously investigating allegations of infringements of Competition Law.
Our question this week is: “Should the European Union Approve the De Beers – Alrosa trade agreement?” Let us know if you think the agreement is an infringement of free competition or not. The vote is taking place on IDEX’s homepage.