JCK Online - Top Takeaways From Four Sessions at Converge

One of the great things about events like Converge, which was held last week in Carlsbad, Calif., is just how many educational sessions there are, and how many topics they cover.

I attended a ton of excellent presentations at the joint American Gem Society/GIA event, yet I feel I barely scratched the surface of everything that was offered there. But I did learn a lot about subjects from SEO to the state of the industry to the nature of diamonds.

Here’s a summary of my main takeaways from four presentations:

– The key to search engine optimization (SEO) is having your website feature articles that people want to read, said Sarah Hartsell Emery, content marketing manager for Jewel360, during the Sept. 8 session “What SEO Is, and Why It Matters to a Small Business.”

“Create content that appeals to human beings,” she said. “It’s really about answering questions that people are asking.”

For that reason, it’s best not to put up blogs written by AI, or to engage in practices like “keyword stuffing,” which Google tends to “punish” sites for.

Search engines are also looking for authoritative content, according to Hartsell Emery.

“The good news is you are an expert already,” she said. “Your only task is to convince Google you have that expertise and authority.”

One way to do that is with an “About Me” page, which is attractive to both search algorithms and your customer base.

“Even if they’re not shopping online, consumers will vet the store by looking at your website,” Hartsell Emery said.

Reddit is also a “great tool” that can help companies stand out, she noted.

“It’s good if you see a question that you want to answer,” she said, though she warned the discussion forum can be “very time-consuming.”

– There’s a reason it’s tougher to determine the origin for diamonds than it is for other gemstones, Mike Jollands. GIA senior director for research projects, said at a Sept. 8 session titled “Determining a Diamond’s Country of Origin: Dream or Reality?”

“Diamonds are found far deeper [inside the earth] than colored stones,” Jollands said. “Deep down below, the earth is the same everywhere.”

Diamonds can show different trace elements depending on where they’re formed, but “finding those elements is very challenging,” Jollands said. “You may have to take a diamond and destroy a large part of it, which is problematic.… All of our data has pushed us to the conclusion that these trace elements are not going to be particularly useful [in determining diamond origin].”

That means there’s currently no reliable method to scientifically determine where a diamond is from, though GIA will continue to research the topic, Jollands said. “As far as we know, the academic community has reached the same conclusion…. But that doesn’t mean we should give up.”

– Diamonds have long fascinated people because they are linked to the origins of the universe, De Beers Group senior technical educator Elizabeth West said in her Sept. 9 talk, “From Stardust to Surface: Diamonds and the Formation of the Universe.”

“We have a connection to a diamond and its story that goes beyond that which we share with another gemstone,” said West. “We are invariably drawn to the gemstone, in the same way as we gaze at mountains, sunsets, or snow-covered landscapes. We are in awe of nature’s ability to render the world beautiful.”

Diamonds are formed by “pure serendipity,” she said, “when time, temperature, pressure, and chemistry miraculously align, and a crystal grows.”

West said the story of diamonds begins with the Big Bang and the initial creation of carbon. Scientists believe diamonds began forming 3.5 billion years ago, more than 85 miles below the earth’s surface, where carbon atoms were subject to extreme heat and pressure.

We’re drawn to diamonds, West said, because they are made of carbon.

“Carbon is the bedrock of our existence,” West said. “We are 18% carbon by weight.… In fact, a carbon atom in you could have been a carbon atom in a diamond, many billions of years ago.

“Diamonds remind us of our origin, when carbon was miraculously created in the heart of ancient stars,” she said. “To hold a diamond is to hold our entire story in your hands.”

– Despite the jewelry trade’s current challenges, there are many reasons to be optimistic, Harold Dupuy, vice president of strategic analysis for Stuller, said in his Sept. 9 seminar “Our Changing Jewelry Industry.”

He noted that 2024 was the first year U.S. jewelry sales topped $100 billion, according to government figures.

“Sales have been on a positive trajectory,” Dupuy said. “The industry’s share of wallet has increased since the pandemic.”

And the declining number of jewelry stores can actually be good for the stores that remain.

“We average about 263 stores a year opening, about 600 closing,” he said. “So the market grows while stores close.… That means fewer players, a bigger pie, and a healthier marketplace.”

The so-called “wealth effect” has also helped the jewelry business, he said.

“That’s a psychological and economic theory that says people behave different when they feel wealthy,” Dupuy explained. “They can be up to their eyeballs in debt, but when their 401(k) rises, boy, they start spending.”

And that benefits jewelry, which has always been an emotional, and therefore “illogical,” purchase, he said.

In addition, the so-called “great wealth transfer” will create “millions” of new millionaires over the next few decades, said Dupuy.

He said that lab-grown diamonds, now a significant factor in the market, have been around for 10 years—old enough to be considered a “mature” sector.

“Typically, what happens when a disruptor appears, the incumbent tends to adjust their business model to regain market share,” Dupuy said. “The disruptors mature, and then they also pivot to adjust their model. The incumbents live on, maybe not the same as before. Eventually the incumbent and disruptor become two different markets.”

He mentioned that both Uber and Airbnb gained market share quickly when they first came on the scene. But more recently, they’ve seen slower rates of growth and the traditional taxi and hotel industries have stabilized, he said.

Lab-grown diamonds represent a “permanent paradigm shift,” said Dupuy, and they’re not “going away.” But he advised retailers to think of them as something that might help expand the industry.

“It creates a lower entry point that can bring new customers to the market,” he said. “Everyone who wears a fake Rolex wants a real one, right?”

Dupuy ended by pointing out that the jewelry business has traditionally been resilient—jewelry sales even rose during World War II.

“I remember getting out of college and I went directly in the jewelry business,” he said. “My dad said, ‘Are you sure?’ Well, I’m glad I didn’t listen.

“Jewelry is not a product,” Dupuy said. “It’s a feeling. It’s a gift. It’s a milestone of life.”