Diamond Engagement Rings in the Worldwide Jewelry Market

In the jewelry world, the solitaire diamond engagement ring has long been a jewelry item that has sold well in the United States and Japan. However, as far as Europe was concerned, the diamond engagement ring was not a necessary part of the engagement process. If a ring was offered as a part of the engagement process, a diamond or diamonds might be used in the jewelry piece, but it was far more often a colored gem of some sort, or a jewelry piece that was a family heirloom. This seems to be changing, however, as Europeans and other cultural areas outside of the US and Japan seem to be discovering a fashion pull towards the exchange of the diamond solitaire engagement ring.

For the past century, the diamond engagement ring had been seen by most of the world as an American jewelry tradition and little else. Most Europeans showed little interest in utilizing a diamond ring in connection with their engagements, often not even worrying about a ring at all. A piece of jewelry, such as a necklace, broach or some other family heirloom, was the preferred choice of engagement present for the soon-to-be bride.

The reason for this diamond ring and diamond jewelry demand comes back to the period in the US right after WWII. It was in this post war period that the DeBeers Company decided that they needed to find a way to increase the sales of diamonds within the US market, as it was one of the largest markets in the world, and had suffered little in terms of infrastructure damage over the course of the war. Europe was ravaged, and there was going to be little call for a luxury item such as a diamond engagement ring or other diamond jewelry.

The DeBeers Company found an American advertising agency and presented them with the task of increasing the sales of diamond jewelry in the US. The ad agency came up with the still popular campaign, Diamonds are Forever. They then went on to hire movie stars and models to pose in magazines wearing diamond rings and other diamond jewelry. Seeing a movie star wearing a diamond ring was a certain way to increase the desire within the general public for diamond jewelry. The campaign went on to focus on creating what within a decade became the American tradition of presenting a diamond ring to one’s fiancé when proposing marriage.

In Europe, there was no such push for diamond jewelry in the form of a diamond engagement ring after WWII. The Europeans held onto their old engagement traditions, which were far more prone to colored gems in some sort of jewelry piece rather than a diamond ring. Japan, always fashion conscious, adapted the American tradition as a part of the occupation that took place in Japan at the end of the war. Consequently, the diamond engagement ring as engagement jewelry has been nearly as popular in Japan as it in the US.

In recent years, however, with the growth of the world market, the European jewelry market has seen an increased demand for the diamond ring as engagement jewelry. This is most clearly seen in the adoption of the solitaire diamond engagement ring as a primary jewelry focus for many of the premier jewelers of Europe. Such jewelers such as Cartier and Bulgari SpA are showing a greater focus on diamond engagement ring jewelry, as they are becoming aware of the growing market within Europe for such engagement and bridal jewelry.

The diamond engagement ring is quickly becoming the most popular form of jewelry the world over. The European example is but one sign of this jewelry growth. Perhaps the most pointed example of the increasing popularity of diamond engagement ring jewelry is found in the opening market of China. China is seen as the greatest untapped market in the world today, and as it gradually opens to the west its growing middle class is showing a great appetite for the chief western engagement and bridal jewelry form: the diamond engagement ring. It is this enormous market that is exciting the diamond ring jewelry industry. If the Chinese adopt the model of the diamond ring as the primary engagement jewelry tradition, the industry will not only have few worries about the decline of its jewelry market, but its future will look to be even more profitable than its incredibly successful past.

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