Events & Awards

What Is the Future of Jewelry Trade Shows?

Events & AwardsMay 29, 2018

What Is the Future of Jewelry Trade Shows?

From inviting consumers in to applying artificial intelligence, the heads of the largest jewelry trade shows talk about the changing landscape.

20180529_trade-show-header.jpg
Las Vegas--It’s a pivotal moment for jewelry trade shows, with big changes afoot in Vegas.

The JCK Las Vegas Show, owned by Reed Exhibitions, is poised to return to the Sands next year, where it launched 26 years ago, just as Emerald Expositions opens a new jewelry trade show nearby.

The new Premiere show will join the Antique Jewelry & Watch Show (also an Emerald-produced event) at the Las Vegas Convention Center and will be joined by AGTA GemFair, which is decamping from JCK Las Vegas to join the antique show as well.

After moving to Mandalay Bay on the south end of The Strip in 2011, JCK is consolidating and moving back closer to the action. Its show in Vegas—once the entire game—is now part of a cluster of events that’s come to be known as Jewelry Market Week.

And Couture, Emerald Exposition’s high-end boutique designer show, is stealing much of the buzz.

“People were asking us for a special show in Vegas at the JA (New York show) level, a less-expensive alternative to Couture,” Gannon Brousseau, who runs Couture as well as the JA New York shows for Emerald, said. “We’re delivering maximum value for minimum expense. So they can come to Vegas and do business for essentially 50 percent of what they used to.”

It’s not just a Couture alternative, however, it’s a JCK alternative.

“Vegas is going to be a war for a while,” one jewelry industry insider said. “You’ve got Emerald Expositions going after the general business that Reed has at JCK, and Reed scurrying to get three- and five-year deals signed with major players to be at the Sands.”

It’s a “war” that comes at a time when jewelry trade shows worldwide are facing myriad challenges.

An Industry in Flux
Around the world, big jewelry trade shows are downsizing, smaller ones are opening, and vendors and retailers are dropping out and showing on their own. 

“Jewelry trade shows face a challenging marketplace,” said David J. Bonaparte, the current president and CEO of Jewelers of America (which owns National Jeweler) who spent 17 years as a top executive with JCK Group Portfolio. “The big challenge for all of them is the cost. The industry is not the same as it was in the boom times.”

The reshuffling in Vegas is part of this worldwide shift in jewelry trade shows as attendance continues to decline, driven by slimmer profit 
margins on diamonds and gold coupled with the growing expense of shows for both exhibitors and buyers, the growth of memo and e-commerce and the reduction in the number of brick-and-mortar stores.

Whatever else they deliver, a trade show thrives on sales. The Smart Show is a good example of this.

Launched in Chicago in 2009, the show had good attendance for eight years. But by year seven, insiders say, retailers were buying less and less. Vendors weren’t getting orders, so they stopped coming.

Both retailers and exhibitors are economizing and becoming more selective about the shows they do. Some jewelers are opting to skip them entirely and instead relying on showrooms and buying groups to view and buy new merchandise, and exhibitors are renting hotel suites—together or separately—and sending out invitations.

Bonaparte describes it like this: “You’re seeing exhibitor groups, buying groups and then groups of exhibitors have gotten together saying if we operate this show together we can hit pockets of the country that might not travel to the big shows. It’s more cost-effective to travel to a resort for a few days and not spend a lot of money and make it worth it.”
The logo for the new section of JCK Las Vegas dedicated entirely to man-made diamonds
The logo for the new section of JCK Las Vegas dedicated entirely to man-made diamonds

Show organizers, meanwhile, are striving to add value and incentives to lure people back.

What that means: Expect even more networking and educational events in Vegas this year.

JCK will have three new pavilions, for security (including cyber), antique and estate jewelry, and lab-grown diamonds. “Lab-grown diamonds are top-of-mind for everybody right now,” said Yancy Weinrich, who runs JCK Events.

Couture will be expanding its watch profile with more vendors, a new Couture Time party and the first national meetup of RedBar, a group for wristwatch collectors and enthusiasts. Couture is actually inviting those consumers into the jewery trade show, a first for it. 

It’s a grind for everybody right now. It’s interesting times, but there’s a lot of opportunity. There’s a lot of opportunity.” — Gannon Brousseau, senior vice president of the Jewelry Group at Emerald Expositions

Once the pivotal jewelry event for the industry, JA New York has evolved into a regional show for the Northeast, as the Atlanta Jewelry Show is for the South.

Howard Hauben, who helped launch Couture, said he is doing well with Centurion, a winter version of Couture’s high-end designer salon experience in Scottsdale, Arizona, and Centurion South Beach, which he is now co-locating with the JIS show in Miami.

Like many in the industry, though, Hauben has his eye on the millennials. He doesn’t think enough is being done to nurture what he calls the “aspirational level” of the population.

“If people coming up in their careers don’t enter the picture, it’s bad for the whole industry,” Hauben said. “Jewelry is something you buy when you’re celebrating your life. There will always be a small percentage of people buying jewelry at the top income levels, but we can’t live on that. You have to have people celebrating their lives in numbers.”

Overseas, the Hong Kong Jewellery & Gem Fair is growing as fast as Baselworld was a few years ago, while Baselworld’s rapid and dramatic downsizing—and recent change in management—is sending tremors through the luxury watch and jewelry trade on both sides of the Atlantic.

Smaller shows, including SIHH and new jewelry trade shows GemGenève and Carat+ are staking their claim on disaffected Basel exhibitors.

Everywhere, exhibitors, retailers, and show organizers are poised for change, struggling to remain relevant and hold onto their piece of a shrinking pie.

“It’s a grind for everybody right now,” Brousseau said. “It’s interesting times, but there’s a lot of opportunity. There’s a lot of opportunity.”

Updating the ‘Super Mall’ Experience
If Couture and Centurion are the boutique jewelry-buying experiences, JCK is the one-stop shop, offering everything from equipment to high-end bridal and international pavilions. 

“Yes, JCK is the super mall,” Weinrich said. “But we’re trying to make it the super mall with an experience—the new mall, not the old-school version that’s dying.” 

“You aren’t just walking a mall now, you’re doing research,” she says. “If you find a product you like, you pull out your phone to see if you can get a better price. The phone is involved in every purchase. So we’re looking at ways to bring technology into the shows to create more efficient buying but also an experience.” 

“We really believe matchmaking is the way of the future. It’s artificial intelligence, understanding your customers’ behavior, how they’re shopping the show, so you can help them do it more effectively.”  – Yancy Weinrich, senior vice president, Reed Exhibitions 

JCK has a broad-based and international appeal, but retailers have to go in there with a plan to be effective.

A few years ago, show organizers added “neighborhoods” and began matching buyers with vendors. Buyers are now required to answer questions at registration about types of products and price points they seek, and whether they plan to purchase on memo. Based on their answers, they are given 10 vendor recommendations. 

This year, JCK is offering $50 American Express gift cards to those who use these recommendations and report back.

“We view it as a $200,000 marketing fee,” Weinrich said. “We really believe matchmaking is the way of the future. It’s artificial intelligence, understanding your customers’ behavior, how they’re shopping the show, so you can help them do it more effectively.”

Show organizers are also actively courting the consumer media, at vendor requests.

“Brands are not doing as many transactions as they were 10 years ago,” she said. “So what are they coming for? Brand exposure, face time with their customers, experience and learning. They want to be part of the industry.”

No Guarantees
In the past year, the number of jewelry stores in the United States has dipped slightly below 20,000, from a peak of 35,000.

“You’ve got fewer stores, and they’re making tighter merchandising decisions,” said Dan Kisch, executive director at SmartWork Media who once oversaw JA New York and then the Smart Show in Chicago. 

“The last two years have shown you cannot be arrogant. You’re a trade show no matter what, and you need to look after your exhibitors.” — Stephen Webster, jewelry designer

 One sector of the market that appears solid is the top 1 percent, a segment of the buying population that’s brand-driven and more stable economically and the demographic to which the Couture, Centurion and JCK Luxury jewelry trade shows cater.

“The market segment we’re serving has an amazing chance of long-term success,” Hauben says. “Jewelers that occupy that level tend to create business opportunities.”

There’s an amazing chance, yes, but no guarantees. All trade shows, regardless of target demographic, need to “look after” their exhibitors, as one jewelry designer put it.

The Baselworld watch and jewelry show caters to the higher end of the market, yet attendance dropped 30 percent from 150,000 in 2014 to about 100,000 last year. This spring, buyers found exhibitor space closed off and the exhibitor count at less than half what it was five years ago. The show was shortened from eight days to six.

The show’s official line is that the downsizing was a deliberate consolidation.

“The decision was made to focus on quality and to give the retailers a more concentrated fair, and that meant the best players in watches and jewelry and gemstones,” said Christian Jürgens, a show spokesman.

“That happens in retail as well. Most retailers who make good business do it with 50 to 80 brands, not 2,000, as in earlier times at Baselworld.”


“I think there were a lot of factors, including constructing an expensive new building and putting the cost on their exhibitors,” one industry insider said when asked about the dramatic downsizing of Baselworld. “They’re trying to retool. I don’t know where they’ll end up, but we all have our eyes on Basel.”

Baselworld was primarily a Swiss watch showcase when British jewelry designer Stephen Webster began exhibiting in 1999. Over the next 15 years, he saw the show expand to include every major luxury brand.

“Basel went from a trade show to something sexier and more glamorous,” he said. “It felt like a consumer show.”

At one point, Webster was spending 500,000 euros each year in Basel on himself and 14 staffers—hotels and restaurants are known to triple their prices during the show—while wining and dining buyers at exorbitant expense. But as the spectacle grew, his role in it seemed to diminish.

When he complained to organizers, Webster said, “they made it very clear Baselworld was no longer a place for me. I think now that would be quite different, but I would never go back.”

The following year a mass exodus began, with about 850 exhibitors dropping out by 2017.

“The last two years have shown you cannot be arrogant like that,” Webster said. “You’re a trade show no matter what, and you need to look after your exhibitors.”

The ‘Big Thing’
The primary allure of Couture for visitors and media is the jewelry itself. 

Jewelers want to go to Couture if for no other reason than the jewelry makes their hearts soar. 

“It’s the embodiment of the heart and soul of the designer who makes it,” said an industry insider. “As opposed to JCK where the jewelry is the kind most likely to sell through at retail, acre after acre of the same stuff.” 

These days, Couture is the only trade show Webster does, and he has no plans to take on another. He spends a fraction of what he dropped at Basel to put up six or seven staffers at the Wynn Las Vegas, where Couture is held. 

“That’s what trade shows need to be thinking about: How are we adding more value throughout the entire year?” — Gannon Brousseau, senior vice president of the Jewelry Group at Emerald Expositions

“I’m known there. I’m part of a community,” he said. “And the rest is up to me. If I’m not providing the jewelry people want, that’s my problem. It’s not because the show organizers are not doing the best they can to remain relevant.”

Brousseau can always be found wandering the jewelry trade show and chatting up vendors. 

Like Webster, he refers to Couture as a community. The brand has managed to keep that sense of community, and buzz going year-round. 

Couture jumped on Instagram in 2013 and built their following before the algorithm changed. 

They were among the first to introduce takeovers, starting with one by designer Irene Neuwirth that garnered 900 followers in two days. Now, they have more than 100,000. 

In the process, @by_couture has become a phenomenon that not only connects designers with retailers, but with media and consumers as well. 

“That’s the big thing, really,” Brousseau said. “How does a trade show connect and cultivate their relationships beyond the five or six days in Las Vegas? 

“That’s what trade shows need to be thinking about: How are we adding more value throughout the entire year?”

CM
Cathleen McCarthycovers jewelry as editor, journalist, blogger and small business consultant.

The Latest

Single Stone Bryn Ring and Grace Lee Marquise Demi Demi Ring
TrendsJun 20, 2025
Dua Lipa Stays On-Trend With Chunky Engagement Ring

The singer’s ring ticks off many bridal trends, with a thick band, half-bezel setting, and solitaire diamond.

Yvonne Léon Python Gold Bracelet
TrendsJun 20, 2025
Piece of the Week: Yvonne Léon’s ‘Python Gold’ Bracelet

The bracelet references vintage high jewelry and snake symbolism as a playful piece where a python’s head becomes a working belt buckle.

Stock image of handcuffs
CrimeJun 18, 2025
7 Men Indicted in $100M Brinks Jewelry Heist

The heist happened in Lebec, California, in 2022 when a Brinks truck was transporting goods from one show in California to another.

an instructor and a student in a bench jewelry classroom
Brought to you by
Investing in the Next Generation of Bench Jewelers

The Seymour & Evelyn Holtzman Bench Scholarship from Jewelers of America returns for a second year.

Marie-Thérèse Pink diamond and Blue Belle sapphire necklace
AuctionsJun 18, 2025
Historic ‘Marie-Thérèse Pink’ Diamond Fetches $14M at Christie’s

The 10-carat fancy purple-pink diamond with potential links to Marie Antoinette headlined the white-glove jewelry auction this week. 

Weekly QuizJun 20, 2025
This Week’s Quiz
Test your jewelry news knowledge by answering these questions.
Take the Quiz
Caryl Capeci Starboard Cruises
EditorsJun 18, 2025
Q&A: Caryl Capeci Dives Into Cruise Jewelry Shopping

The Starboard Cruises SVP discusses who is shopping for jewelry on ships, how much they’re spending, and why brands should get on board.

Gresham grasshopper ring
AuctionsJun 18, 2025
16th-Century ‘Gresham Grasshopper’ Ring Sells for $56K

The historic signet ring exceeded its estimate at Noonans Mayfair’s jewelry auction this week.

Jewelers of America logo with meetup, State of the Majors, giveaway and massages
Brought to you by
Jewelers of America is Headed to Las Vegas for JCK 2025

The countdown is on for the JCK Las Vegas Show and JA is pulling out all the stops.

Kirk Kara fine jewelry
CollectionsJun 18, 2025
Kirk Kara Celebrates 135 Years With New Jewels

To mark the milestone, the brand is introducing new non-bridal fine jewelry designs for the first time in two decades.

Gemfields 36 Carat Ruby
SourcingJun 18, 2025
Gemfields Sells 36-Carat Rough Ruby

The gemstone is the third most valuable ruby to come out of the Montepuez mine, Gemfields said.

Alex Brown
TechnologyJun 18, 2025
Alex Brown Named President of Smithee Group

Founder and longtime CEO Ben Smithee will stay with the agency, transitioning into the role of founding partner and strategic advisor.

Jade Ruzzo Gloria Collar
EditorsJun 17, 2025
The Best New Jewelry from Couture 2025, Part 1

Associate Editor Natalie Francisco shares 20 of her favorite pieces from the jewelry collections that debuted at Couture.

Jewelry industry author, speaker, and sales expert Peter Smith
ColumnistsJun 17, 2025
Peter Smith: Is Your Comp Plan a Hiring Hindrance?

If you want to attract good salespeople and generate a stream of “sleeping money” for your jewelry store, then you are going to have to pay.

Selection of jewelry from Sotheby’s New York High Jewelry sale
AuctionsJun 17, 2025
Colored Gemstones, Signed Jewels Shine in Sotheby’s High Jewelry Sale

The top lot was a colorless Graff diamond, followed by a Burmese ruby necklace by Marcus & Co.

Amanda Gizzi, Jewelers of America’s SVP of corporate affairs
MajorsJun 17, 2025
Amanda Gizzi Gets a Promotion at JA

Gizzi, who has been in the industry since 2001, is now Jewelers of America’s senior vice president of corporate affairs.

Kering CEO Luca de Meo
MajorsJun 17, 2025
Kering Names Automotive Exec as Its New CEO

Luca de Meo, a 30-year veteran of the auto industry, will succeed longtime CEO François-Henri Pinault.

Botswana Minster of Minerals and Energy Bogolo Joy Kenewendo
EditorsJun 16, 2025
Q&A: Bogolo Joy Kenewendo on Mining, Tariffs, and the Energy of Las Vegas

Following visits to Vegas and New York, Botswana’s minerals minister sat down with Michelle Graff to discuss the state of the diamond market.

Greenwich Street Jewelers Your Love Has the Perfect Ring Campaign
IndependentsJun 16, 2025
Greenwich St. Jewelers Launches Commitment Campaign Celebrating LGBTQ+ Couples

The “Your Love Has the Perfect Ring” campaign showcases the strength of love and need for inclusivity and representation, the jeweler said.

Ivette Nersesyan-Stephanopoulos
MajorsJun 16, 2025
Ivette Nersesyan-Stephanopoulos Joins Tiffany & Co.

The former De Beers executive is the jewelry house’s new director of high jewelry for the Americas.

New York Liberty Nyara Sabally Catbird campaign
MajorsJun 16, 2025
Catbird Names WNBA Star Nyara Sabally as Its New Brand Ambassador

The New York Liberty forward is the first athlete to represent the Brooklyn-based jewelry brand.

Robinson Pelham Fruits of Love Pear Earrings
CollectionsJun 13, 2025
Piece of the Week: Robinson Pelham’s Pear Earrings

Take a bite out of the 14-karat yellow gold “Fruits of Love Pear” earrings featuring peridots, diamond stems, and tsavorite leaves.

Ella Sophie
EditorsJun 12, 2025
15 Questions With Jewelry Photographer Ella Sophie

The California-based creative talks jewelry photography in the modern era and tackles FAQs about working with a pro for the first time.

A pink gold Patek Philippe perpetual calendar chronograph Ref. 2499
AuctionsJun 12, 2025
Vintage Patek Philippe From the ‘50s Sells for $4M at Sotheby’s

Al Capone’s pocket watch also found a buyer, though it went for less than half of what it did at auction four years ago.

Celine Assimon
AuctionsJun 12, 2025
Former De Beers Exec Celine Assimon Joins Bonhams

Assimon is the auction house’s new chief commercial officer.

De Beers CEO Al Cook speaking at JCK Las Vegas 2025
EditorsJun 11, 2025
Q&A: Al Cook on Differentiating Natural Diamonds, Traceability, and Tariffs

The De Beers Group CEO discusses the company’s new “beacon” program, the likelihood diamonds will be exempt from tariffs, and “Origin.”

Pandora Las Vegas ribbon cutting ceremony
MajorsJun 11, 2025
Pandora Bets on Las Vegas for First North American Flagship

The Danish jewelry giant hosted its grand opening last weekend, complete with a Pandora pink roulette wheel.

Tiffany Stevens
GradingJun 11, 2025
Tiffany Stevens Exits IGI, Lab Appoints New Board Leader

Industry veteran Anoop Mehta is the new chairman and independent director of the IGI board.

×

This site uses cookies to give you the best online experience. By continuing to use & browse this site, we assume you agree to our Privacy Policy