A contingent of 30 Nationwide members recently toured South Africa and Belgium as part of the buying group’s Diamond Safari trip – an event organised with the aim of giving jewellers insight into the journey of a diamond from mine to end consumer.
Those participating in the tour visited the Jwaneng diamond mine located near Gaborone, Botswana, which is said to be the world’s most profitable diamond mine, producing about 11 million carats of diamonds each year.
The group was also taken to a rough sorting facility operated by De Beers Group’s Diamond Trading Company and given a guided tour of a diamond-cutting factory. Participants then joined other Nationwide members in Belgium for the buying group’s biannual Antwerp diamond buying trip.
Commenting on the current trading conditions within the diamond market, Nationwide managing director Colin Pocklington stated sales were “well up on last year” for his members. He said several jewellers had made more than $50,000 in pre-orders prior to arriving in Belgium.
“We have noticed that a few retailers are buying a colour or clarity lower, in order to partly offset the increased diamond cost due to the lower Australian dollar,” he added.
Carol Schefe, who participated in the Diamond Safari, said that the fall in the Aussie dollar value meant she and staff had to “work a lot harder” this year to secure diamond sales at her business, Coomber Bros Jewellers, located in Roma, Queensland.
Stuart McLean of Sunshine Coast business Underwoods Fine Jewellers, who also participated in the trip, added that retailers were continually battling against online retail competition, describing the current diamond market as “fairly average”.
Co-owner of van de Water Jewellers in Gore, New Zealand, Ivan van de Water, was more upbeat: “Internationally, the diamond market is strong again after the slump of the global financial crisis (GFC), and production figures are back to pre-GFC. On my travels to Botswana and to Antwerp, I see that everybody is positive and optimistic.”
Business advantage
van de Water noted that stores carrying high-quality diamond stock with proactive and knowledgeable staff were experiencing the most success. In this regard, all three retailers said the international trip could help improve business by providing them with a more in-depth understanding of the diamond supply chain and increasing consumer confidence.
“Our customers are generally impressed that we have gone all that way to see these processes first-hand, and we think this helps our customers to believe that we are true diamond professionals,” Schefe stated.
The Diamond Safari took place in late April, and marked the third time such an event had been organised. The previous Nationwide Diamond Safaris were held in October 2011 and March 2013, respectively.
The diamond safari
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