If you haven’t caught a whiff of the online revolution that diamond e-tailers are spearheading, you probably will be surprised how much the industry has changed in a few years. In the past, when there were few diamond merchants online, your option for getting a good diamond were really limited to the brick-and-mortar jeweler down the block. As soon as diamond merchants began to give up the model used by jewelry stores and offer their own unique services, the chase was on for the consumer buck. Now, the trends are showing healthy growth for online jewelry retailers. The latest trends show over 20% increase in spending on online luxury items like watches and jewelry. This isn’t just a passing fad; this is the wave of the future. Online diamond merchants can offer their customers a large inventory of wholesale diamonds, a high level of customer education on diamonds, and great prices too.
Wholesale Diamonds Available Online
While the term “wholesale” is specific to merchants usually selling to other merchants who intend on retailing, it has become equated with a very bargain-rate price. This is what most online jewelers mean if they claim to offer wholesale prices to the regular public. You are not asked to provide any wholesale license, it is just a term usurped by retailers to indicate that the consumer will get rock-bottom prices on their purchases.
Online diamond merchants can afford to offer such low prices because they don’t have the same overhead costs of regular stores. They do not have to carry their entire inventory as they network with a variety of other diamond sellers to offer the customer a wide variety. This allows them the ability to be able to list a diamond for sale that they may not have in stock, but someone else does. If you do buy from an online retailer make sure you get a copy of the appraisal report with the diamond. The actual retailer does not inspect many diamonds so the appraisal service offered by a third party is a must. As long as you have this type of intervention and you know that someone has inspected the diamond before it got shipped, you can be pretty sure you are getting what you paid for.
Customer Education
The regular jewelry stores that have profited from the lack of knowledge most customers had when purchasing diamonds are feeling the impact of online diamond merchants’ efforts to re-educate the paying public. Previously, when you went to make a purchase of a diamond engagement ring, you were at the mercy of the jeweler. If you got a reputable jeweler, your chances of getting a good deal were certainly better than if you did not. Unless you understood the diamond business, there were few resources to check out before making this major purchase.
This is no longer the case. Now, you can log into any diamond online merchant and you can check out extensive article repositories that are there just to educate their customers. The reason is that now it is in the online merchant’s best interests to have an educated public. If they can show people how buying their diamonds with some knowledge of what they are getting can save them money online, it makes it less likely people will rely on a local jeweler or set foot in a brick-and-mortar store. This has made the diamond buying and selling process a whole lot more transparent. This is great for the consumer and maybe not so great for certain high-margin jewelry stores.
Now, customers are becoming so savvy that they look up the information they need online before they even step into a jewelry store. You have people asking for specific cuts, clarity grading, and wanting appraisal reports. They may even try to bargain based on what they get online for the same amount of money. Others don’t even bother wasting their gas and just hop online and go to a favorite and trusted online merchant for their purchases.
Zeroing in on the Right Price
If you go to a retail jewelry store, the salesperson may ask you what budget you have in mind. Then, they may try to steer you to something slightly more expensive. Why? It is because many diamonds salespeople work on commission. The more you buy, the bigger their commission. Sometimes, they are asked to try to move specific pieces too. Instead of allowing you the chance to make up your own budget and mind, they start to play games.
Diamond retailers took the games right out of the buying process by getting rid of the salespeople and commission structure. When you hop online, you are in sole control over how much you spend and what diamond ring you choose to buy. If you do some research first, in the online archives, you may find that you can save money on the settings by getting different metals. You may find that some cuts cost more than others. You already know that the diamonds themselves are probably priced closer to wholesale diamonds than you could get at a local retailer anyways. Either way, you should have some basic ideas on how to build a ring that fits your budget and wows your significant other.
Then, the fun can start, Instead of pulling out a tray of rings, you go to the online ring builder and start to design your own ring. This feature is something that probably many brick-and-mortar stores envy. You are not only able to build a ring that fits your budget, but you get to have full control on the variables from ring metal choice, setting, and diamond stone, to the final cost. If you do get stuck and you want something that you are trying to get and the cost still doesn’t align, you can call or email a customer service representative to see how to modify your choices. One thing is certain; they won’t care if what your buying isn’t going to get them a large commission check. The online buying process is very easy to go through and then you sit back and wait for your order to arrive.
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