diamond industry Essay -- essays research papers

The set of diamonds lies on their physical properties that make them suitable for many applications. Natural diamonds atomic number 18 only of high value if they are scarce in nature. Realizing this, De Beers fused Mines was formed to control the supply of diamonds from mines across the world. The diamond market is influenced by mine production, rough diamond distribution, preparation/cutting, and retail markets. The project leave alone be concentrating on the retail markets for diamonds and other high end jewelry.jewellery purchases are highly discretionary because they are heavily affected by adverse trends in the familiar economy and are measured by disposable consumer income. The first half of fiscal 2003 can be draw with a lackluster economy, lower consumer confidence and an unstable geopolitical environment. However, general economic conditions and consumer confidence improved in the second half of fiscal 2003, resulting with increased sales. Since the economy has taken some major strides towards recovery, the jewelry industry represents a bullish market. Large and small retailers are evaluating expansion opportunities outdoors of the traditional regional mall venue. With this in mind, it is the intention of this paper to task the comprehensive strategies of the cyclical retail jewelry industry.In this highly competitive industry which is extremely sensitive to the level of discretionary consumer income and the subsequent have-to doe with of the type of good purchased, competitors include foreign and domestic guild and atomic number 61 luxury jewelers, specialty stores, national and regional jewelry chains, and department stores. To a lesser extent there exist catalog showrooms, discounters, direct mail service suppliers, televised home shopping networks, and jewelry retailers who make sales through profit sites. It is a highly fragmented US market estimated at some 54 billion dollars. The breakup of the industry is accordingly mass merch ants representing 10%, chain jewelers with 100+ stores as 14%, chain department stores representing 12%, TV home shopping with 4%, independent jewelers taking the largest conduct at 36% and other (general, misc.) accounting for 24%. (Please refer to butt on E)The specialty retailers with the highest sales are Zale Corp ($2.2Bn), Signet US($1.7Bn), Tiffany ($.8Bn) other players include Friedmans ($.4Bn) Whitehall ($.3Bn), and Samuels ($.1... ...d consignment terms have become the norm for wholesalers to extend to their retail partners. A good proportion of the inventory be are transferred to wholesalers through these consignment purchases. Since jewelry is not a perishable good such as the garments and shoe industries, it still works as an asset flush if the retailer returns the merchandise back to the wholesaler.The amount of actor that a retailer has is directly correlated to the size of their operation. Only a few companies dominate extensive volumes. To fill the capacity present in most factories owned by wholesalers they require these volumes to remain profitable. Due to these factors, the major chain stores are able to leverage better financing, costs, and payment terms than the rest of the industry. The largest persona of jewelers can be categorized as independent jewelers accounting for 36% of the overall market. Their ability to leverage power comes from their financial credibility in the market. Jewelry, being a luxury good and furthermore having high costs leads to great losses in the cases of defaults. Thus, the financial strength of these companies dictates the amount of power they have in the industry.