Starting a Lab-Grown Diamond Jewellery Business
INTRODUCTION
A prominent client expressed their wish to start a lab-grown diamond jewellery business in Europe. They had identified a demand in the market for lab-grown diamond jewellery, which they wanted to source from India and sell to their customers in Europe.
The client specialises in direct marketing and wanted to apply their expertise in this field to their proposed lab-grown diamond jewellery business.
I was approached to provide my services as a business consultant, negotiator, and translator for this project.
CHALLENGE
The client had no prior experience in the lab-grown diamond jewellery industry. They had not conducted any research nor had any contacts they could call on.
The jewellery market is vast, with items at almost every price point. The client needed to identify their target market, which products to sell and the relevant pricing.
We also had to identify which lab-grown diamond jewellery manufacturers could provide an all-in-one solution, as the client wanted the process to be as simple and streamlined as possible and within a particular price range.
SOLUTION
My first task was to create a short but detailed document with an overview of the jewellery market, conduct basic market research, and identify the major manufacturers, wholesalers, and retailers.
Through regular meetings with the client, I was able to determine the cost constraints, level of quality and volume of orders that the client had budgeted for.
I scheduled daily phone calls and emails to the major manufacturers to ascertain more information for the client, requested the manufacture of jewellery samples to the client’s specifications, and arranged meetings for our scheduled trip to India.
The project required tens of hours of research, phone calls, and meetings, as the relevant information was not publicly accessible.
RESULT
Accompanying the clients on a seven-day trip to Mumbai and Surat in India, we visited a number of lab-grown diamond jewellery manufacturers.
We gained direct insight into the production of diamonds and jewellery and better understood the processes and timescales.
The clients and I were able to inspect the quality of lab-grown diamonds and jewellery and request changes to the design and quality.
Assisting the clients through negotiations, we were able to secure contracts with two major lab-grown diamond manufacturers.
The clients received their first shipment of jewellery just 45 days after leaving India with customers receiving their orders shortly after that.