The Women of Lab Grown and the Next Gen Consumers
May 05, 22
Marty Hurwitz is founder and CEO of MVI Marketing LLC (THE MVEye), which has been researching consumer attitudes to lab grown diamonds since 2004.
For most of the modern history of the jewelry business, the vast majority of end users (consumers of the product) have been women. Simultaneously, the people controlling the fine jewelry supply pipeline have been men.
With the recent explosion of the lab-grown diamond business, this paradigm has shifted.
By my count (and it's likely an undercount), there are at least 34 women actively involved in shaping the global lab-grown diamond business and these leaders are driving a new connection with a modern jewelry consumer that is likely to change the jewelry industry for the better.
Their job titles include words like merchandiser, designer, manufacturer, engineer, scientist, marketer, influencer, communicator, and visionary.
They are all tech savvy.
Among their ranks are traditional major retailers like Gina Drosos and Jamie Singleton of Signet, Beryl Raff, Julie Yoakum of Helzberg and Pam Mortenson of JC Penney. But there are also the disrupters like Anna-Mieke Anderson of MiaDonna, Beth Gerstein of Brilliant Earth, Sue Rechner of WD Lab-Grown Diamonds and Adelle Archer of Eterneva.
And it's not just about the US. It's a global market now, expanding rapidly with consumers in Canada, Europe, Australia and Asia.
Those international markets are also being led by female leaders such as Galina Hirtzel of Michael Hill (Australia), Irene Hsieh of Joy Colori (Taiwan), Marie-Ann Wachtmeister and Charlotte Daehn of Courbet, Coralie de Fontenay of Lux Impact, Alex Gicquel and Veronique de Beaumont of Diamond Concept (France).
Concurrently we are in the midst of a global, consumer, demographic shift. A shift that is unveiling the path to the new jewelry consumer. That path is defined by three massive spending segments: multicultural consumers, self-purchasing females, and next-generation bridal consumers.
These consumer segments, dominated by the 25 and up age bracket, are now beginning their career journeys and making the first real money of their lives. Their discretionary spending is growing and will be influencing consumer products and brands for the next 40 years.
They are a powerful economic force, and they are looking at everything differently than their parents and grandparents did, especially the jewelry and brands they buy, gift and wear.
But they can smell greenwashing and gaslighting a mile away. That's why they are gravitating organically to the transparency, sustainability and tech wonder that is lab-grown diamonds.
The jewelry industry must embrace these new consumers, create products for them, market to them, and provide innovative experiences for them to embrace.
To sell them we must look like them and employ them.
Whoever wins the next gen consumer wins the race and, in this race, I for one will follow the leadership of these women of lab-grown.