As previously reported, Jeweller was provided information about a new Australian online jewellery ‘store’ – The Dream Collection - that made various claims while offering scant detail about its operation.
The website reads: “Introducing The Dream Collection Jewellery — Australia's freshest online jewellery store, designed exclusively for the bold, adventurous shopper.”
Confusingly, the website features no company name, phone number, email address, or Australian Business/Company Number (ABN/ACN).
The About Us page states: “The Dream Collection is a proud division of the [sic] The Dream Collection Group Ltd.”
Unfamiliar with this company name, Jeweller researchers established that the website was registered by Leading Edge Group Limited.
Research also confirmed that The Dream Collection Group Ltd was not listed on the Australian Business Register (ABN) website. Further, a search with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) also revealed no record of any registered company or business name under that title.
These facts aside, this investigation also uncovered other intriguing details. The company’s website links to four social media platforms - Facebook, TikTok, Pinterest, and Instagram.
While the TikTok account didn’t exist, the Instagram account, which had 15 followers, was revealing. The Instagram page does not mention of the The Dream Collection being part of Leading Edge Group; however, 12 of the followers appear to be employees of the company.
Mystery & Confusion
Leading Edge Group Jewellers (LEGJ) is the jewellery ‘division’ of the parent entity Leading Edge Group Limited, which has members from seven retail categories, including computers, appliances, electronics, and books.
For decades, LEGJ operated as a member-based buying group representing independent jewellery stores; however, as previously reported, LEGJ established two wholesale divisions. Troy Australia (2021) and Diamond Republic (2023) began supplying the broader jewellery market outside the group’s members.
This meant that LEGJ was effectively competing with its own preferred suppliers. To make matters even more confusing, management announced the appointment of Troy Australia as a preferred LEGJ supplier — essentially making the company its own preferred supplier!
Information recently provided to Jeweller concerning the establishment of The Dream Collection indicated that Leading Edge Group shifted for a second time and is now operating in the consumer jewellery market.
This has now been confirmed by recent statements from Claire Packett, former head of category at Leading Edge Group and current general manager of Diamond Republic.
In an advertorial-style (promotion/advertisement) article in Jewellery World, The Dream Collection is described as “primarily targeting direct consumers”.
This means Leading Edge Group Limited is now competing with its former members and the broader retail jewellery category.
Confusingly, Packett suggests that despite The Dream Collection operating as a direct-to-consumer jewellery business, it can ‘benefit’ competing retailers because products will be available at wholesale prices.
Other comments made by Packett in the article not only increase the confusion around The Dream Collection but also appear to contradict claims made on its website.
Background Reading: Mystery surrounds new jewellery website
The website describes the business as a “proud division of the [sic] The Dream Collection Group Ltd”. Confusingly, the article describes The Dream Collection as being “a new online jewellery brand” of industry supplier Diamond Republic.
It should be noted that Diamond Republic’s website does not mention The Dream Collection and is not listed on the brand page. Likewise, The Dream Collection website does not mention Diamond Republic.
As mentioned, while The Dream Collection website states it is a division of The Dream Collection Group Ltd, government regulators show no record of any such business.
Interestingly, at the time of Jeweller’s initial report (14 January), neither the Australian Business Register nor ASIC displayed a record of The Dream Collection as a company or business.
However, on 21 January, five days after the report was published, Leading Edge Group Limited registered the business name ‘Dream Collection Jewellery’ with the government regulator.
With that said, the so-called The Dream Collection Group Ltd remains a mystery!
Rise & Fall
Jeweller has chronicled the decline of LEGJ as a buying group at length since the establishment of a fourth retail buying group – Independent Jewellers Collective – in 2020.
LEGJ was once the Australian industry’s third buying group. At its peak in 2018, it represented 195 stores and 135 members.
In 2023, the group inexplicably refused to provide membership statistics for Jeweller’s Buying Group Report, even though it had done so without issue for more than a decade.
Subsequently, Jeweller obtained official documents that confirmed membership had fallen by 84 per cent to 20 members or fewer.
Due to this sharp decline and the transition into wholesaling, this publication informed the management of Leading Edge Group Jewellers that it would no longer be considered a member-based retail buying group.
Its subsequent move to become a jewellery retailer - after also becoming a jewellery supplier - has validated the decision to no longer consider LEGJ a genuine jewellery industry buying group.
This demise of influence in the Australian jewellery industry was not the only issue facing the business.
In 2023, Jeweller reported that Leading Edge Group Limited had lost nearly $10 million in just two years. The company's financial statements revealed a loss of $5.06 million in 2023 and $3.99 million in 2022.
The company’s most recent financial statements (FY24) record a net profit of $1,476,000 on income of $97,927,000, a 1.5 per cent profit margin. Arguably, this was the first profit in eight years.
Leading Edge Group Limited has recorded losses of nearly $16 million since 2017; however, its $255,000 profit in 2018 resulted from selling a business unit (TBC Group Pty Limited) for $1.9 million.
It was a similar story in 2021 when a $5.5 million profit was recorded after a New Zealand telecommunications business was sold for $6.3 million.
Based on these adjusted profit and loss figures, the trading results for the past eight years have jumped from a $16 million loss to a $24 million loss - an average deficit of $3 million annually.
Trials & Tribulations
It should be noted that Leading Edge Group Limited’s Troy Australia stopped trading, or at least the website was deleted. Surprisingly, Packett’s article seems to include an astonishing admission that Diamond Republic had also been failing.
It claims that Diamond Republic has been turned around: “The launch of Dream Collection is the latest milestone in Diamond Republic’s impressive turnaround story.
“Guided by its parent company, Leading Edge, the business has restructured to achieve consistent profitability, reporting a +$2 million profit last year and recording monthly profits ever since.”
It’s noteworthy that Diamond Republic began operating in 2023; therefore, if the above statement is accurate, it suggests that Diamond Republic was unsuccessful for its first two years.
That matter aside, there is further confusion around the claim that Diamond Republic made more than $2 million in profit over the past year.
Firstly, it is unclear whether the article refers to gross profit or net profit.
Assuming this information is accurate, it paints an interesting picture of Leading Edge Group Limited, which, as mentioned, reported a $1.4 million profit across the entire group as of 30 June 2024.
This financial information appears to suggest that without Diamond Republic’s claimed $2 million profit, Leading Edge Group Limited would have posted a loss of more than -$600,000 in 2024, noting above that its adjusted trading result for the past eight years could be as high as -$23 million.
Jeweller contacted Packett seeking clarification on these comments, specifically to ensure that the reporting in Jewellery World accurately reflected the financial status of these companies. At the time of publication, she had not responded.
As previously reported, the LEJG Facebook page continues to claim that it is “Australia's fastest growing & most cost effective independent jewellery buying group”, despite its website (legj.com.au) not functioning.
Charlie Davey, CEO of Leading Edge Retail Australia, was also contacted about the background of The Dream Collection and other matters; however, at the time of publication, he had not responded to these requests.
More reading
Mystery surrounds new jewellery website
Leading Edge’s shambles: $9.9 million in losses as membership plummets
Jewellery Buying Groups: Musical Chairs
2023 Buying Groups Report: Numbers Rule the Jewellery Universe
Buying Groups Report 2020: Strength in Numbers