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via gem market news, july/august 2008, issue 4) Stuart Robertson writes:
Recently, De Beers released the results of a survey they did regarding the trust factor that consumers have with jewelers. The results are staggering. Consumers had multiple choice answers and only 5% of all respondents said they trusted jewelers a lot. More than half of all respondents said they 'actively mistrust' or 'mistrust jewelers a lot.' De Beers stated that as an industry, we must do better (
note that one could speculate that De Beers released this information in an attempt to eventually lead consumers to the De Beers diamond brand as a name consumers can trust). These results might have been about diamonds, but the same would probably hold true if the questions were posed regarding color.
For more than 25 years that I have been in the jewelry business, I have been talking about the lack of disclosures in the industry. Twenty five years later, it is marginally better. On the wholesale end, it has improved due to efforts of organizations such the American Gem Trade Association. The AGTA requires members to disclose treatments of gems. However, on the retail level, other than some brave stores that have implemented full disclosure policies, it is still greatly lacking. As independent appraisers, we continue to successfully educate consumers regarding treatments with only minimal problems from the consumer learning this information. If anything, their problem is that they were not told of the treatment. How do retailers expect to gain consumer trust if they knowingly hide information relevant to the sale of the gem? Retailers are so fearful of losing out a sale, some will seem to do anything or say anything to make that sale.
How true! What's the gem and jewelry industry's trust quotient? I think the gem and jewelry sector (North America + Asia + other emerging markets) have a long way to go to prove that they can be 'trust-builders' not 'trust busters'.
Chinese pianist Lang Lang, at age 26, is one of the most visible, in-demand classical musicians in the world today + his story, published in the new autobiography, Journey of a Thousand Miles, is an interesting book.
