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Business Pulse: Customer Inquiries on Ethical Sourcing
Jewelers who took our latest poll say their customers don’t ask many questions about the origin of the products they are buying. Do yours?
The greatest percentage of jewelers who responded to the latest Business Pulse poll said that they are “somewhat concerned” about responsible/ethical sourcing issues when it comes to the products they sell.
New York--While the vast majority of retailers who took National Jeweler/Jewelers of America’s latest survey said they are concerned with responsible sourcing, it’s not a topic that’s top-of-mind for many consumers.
Or at least, it’s not among the consumers who are actually coming into jewelry stores to buy diamonds and gemstones.
Fielded in late September/early October, the Business Pulse survey opened by asking jewelers how concerned they are with responsible/ethical sourcing issues when it comes to the products they sell.
A total of 84 percent of retailers said they were somewhat (43 percent) or very (41 percent) concerned, while only 16 percent reported not being concerned.
However, 53 percent said less than a quarter of customers had inquired about responsible/ethical sourcing in the past 12 months while 38 percent said no one asked about it at all. And 71 percent said the number of inquiries about sourcing has stayed the same over the past 12 months.
When consumers do ask questions about the origin of jewelry and gemstones, the survey indicates that their questions mostly are about diamonds.
This is not surprising, given the fact that the stones have gotten the most press when it comes to ethical issues (think: Blood Diamond), and that diamonds represent the bulk of what jewelers sell.
A total of 56 percent of survey takers said their customers inquired about conflict or human rights issues surrounding diamonds, lab-grown diamonds and diamond treatments.
Nineteen percent also said customers asked about grading reports. Though it was not specified in the survey, these questions most likely were about diamond grading reports.
Across-the-board August
Sales results for the month of August were mixed.
Forty-one percent of jewelers reported that sales were down for the month when compared with August 2015.
Thirty-five percent of respondents said sales were up, while the remaining 24 percent reported that sales were flat year-over-year.
National Jeweler/Jewelers of America conducted its October Business Pulse survey between Sept. 29 and Oct. 11. A total of 194 jewelers responded.
It was conducted in conjunction with the Product Pulse survey, which asked retailers about their sales of diamond fashion jewelry.
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