Jeff Corey, President of Day’s Jewelers, On The Benefits Of Selling Botswana Diamonds
Introduction:
In November, 2008, I did a post on Days Jewelers, an independent chain with five stores in Northern New England. They were the first company to purchase diamonds mined and polished in beneficiations programs in Botswana.
This is a follow up with Jeff Corey, President of Day’s, on what he has learned. ~ Marc Choyt, Publisher, fairjewelry.org
Marc Choyt: At this point, which is still early, have you seen concrete evidence that the Botswana diamond actually given you a competitive edge in your market, giving your more business? Can you provide any specific examples?
Jeff Corey: Yes, Botswana diamonds have definitely offered us a competitive edge. The story is particularly relevant to younger people. A diamond engagement ring is the ultimate symbol of love. The symbolism is enhanced in knowing that the purchase of their engagement ring helped to alleviate poverty by putting people to work in a poor nation.
As a personal experience, three gentlemen, in their mid twenties, came into one of our stores. One of them was looking to purchase a gift for his girlfriend. The other two had no intentions of buying anything. While his friend was shopping, I engaged in a conversation with the other two gentlemen about the “Made in Botswana” diamond. Twenty minutes later, one of them purchased an $8,000 ring from me with a one carat Botswana diamond. He had intended to purchase a diamond the next day from a competitor.
Marc Choyt: I would be interested in whether there has been any “halo effect” from your marketing of Botswana diamonds in terms of the general branding of your store.
Jeff Corey: I believe this is the most significant benefit of the “Made in Botswana” diamond. Market research indicates a continual deterioration in the public’s trust and confidence in jewelers. Many factors have contributed to this attitude; lack of employee training in jewelry stores, fictitious discounting, dirty gold, child labor, blue topaz irradiation, etc. I believe the movie “Blood Diamonds” had a far more significant impact on the public’s perception of our industry than most jewelers realize.
“Made in Botswana” diamonds have caused people to re-think their attitude about jewelry, gemstones, and jewelers. It is beginning to cause people to believe that buying fine jewelry can actually serve to help our world become a better place.
Marc Choyt: Is Botswana diamond part of the larger the move toward a more transparent mine to market product in your store? If so, what exactly are you doing?
Jeff Corey: Our initiative with Botswana diamonds has created a new awareness within our organization regarding social and ecological responsibilities. We have learned that these issues are very relevant to the consumer. Our buyers are now questioning suppliers regarding sourcing and manufacturing processes of precious metals and gemstones. They are favoring those suppliers who demonstrate their values towards social and ecological responsibility are congruent with ours.
Marc Choyt: How has the local press responded and what have you done in terms of marketing, in store and otherwise, to get the word out?
Jeff Corey: Local press has been very supportive with our initiative. A couple of local radio stations have hosted discussions about our Botswana effort during their morning talk shows. Several newspaper articles that have been written can be found at this link;
http://www.daysjewelers.com/jump.do?itemID=5&itemType=LANDING&page=DaysNews
Thus far, we have expended far more dollars promoting and merchandising “Made in Botswana” than generated in profits from the sale of the diamonds. We’ve also invested a great deal of internal human resources in our effort to tell the story properly.
Our investment included; specially designed in case displays, extensive employee training, print collaterals, radio campaign, and a great deal of time and effort presenting the Botswana story on our website, www.daysjewelers.com. We even purchased lapel pins of enjoined American and Botswana flags for about 100 associates.
Our staff jewelry designers created the “Hope” pendant which is used exclusively for “Made in Botswana” diamonds. The Hope pendant image and story can be found at this link; http://www.daysrocks.com/hopependant.htm
Marc Choyt: Has the educational process for both your staff been difficult or costly? How have you dealt with members of your sales force who might not be as passionate as you are? Any tips that might help others?
Jeff Corey: Before introducing “Made in Botswana” diamonds to our stores, we conducted three ½ day training seminars where all 140 of our employees learned the story about Botswana diamonds as well as the advantages of GCAL certification. All “Made in Botswana” diamonds are accompanied by GCAL certificates which authenticates, via Gemprint, that the diamond was manufactured in the MotiGanz factory in Botswana. This was a costly venture as we brought employees into one central location. Round trip travel time is 6 hours to our furthest store.
These seminars were particularly important to the success of the brand launch. The message and passion behind the initiative was communicated in a powerful way to all employees with consistency. Widespread consumer acceptance of these diamonds and the story behind them continues to re-invigorate our employees passion for Botswana diamonds. I have not heard of any employee in the company who is not as passionate as I am about “Made in Botswana” diamonds.
Marc Choyt: As someone deeply passionate about ethical sourcing, what lessons have you learned that might be useful to other independent jewelers or the jewelry trade?
Jeff Corey: In today’s society, corporate social and ecological responsibility is far more relevant to the consumer than many jewelers realize. We must ask questions and hold our suppliers accountable to highly ethical standards in manufacturing and sourcing. Every company should develop, communicate and operate by a code of ethics.
Jewelers of America has worked diligently in recent years to develop and maintain a set of ethical standards for jewelers. These standards are available to all jewelers at this link; http://www.jewelers.org/publicaffairs/confidence.html
Marc Choyt: Some jewelers are concerned that highlighting the diamond issue to sell a more “ethical” produce might raise questions with sourcing of other elements of the supply chain which cannot be so transparent. Any sense of this?
Jeff Corey: The jewelry industry, through Jewelers of America and other trade organizations has invested a great deal of effort to address “Blood Diamond” and other such issues. They have managed to bring awareness to the industry and have successfully curtailed many of the problems.
Unfortunately, it has been difficult to communicate the great work that is being done to the consumer. The “Made in Botswana” diamond has provided an audience so that we may communicate these endeavors.
When a customer comes into our store to see a “Made in Botswana” diamond, we go on to explain that every diamond in our store was acquired with written assurances from our suppliers that it is conflict free. So, Botswana diamonds have actually supported sales of many other products in our stores.
Marc Choyt: Anything else that you would like to add?
Jeff Corey: It was a very difficult decision financially for us to invest in “Made in Botswana” diamonds last October. When asked to represent these diamonds, we had already made our diamond purchases for the Holiday Season. Also, we knew it would be a particularly challenging 4th quarter. After much discussion, we realized the importance of our decision. It was the last piece of the puzzle needed to ensure the success of beneficiation for the people of Botswana.
The diamonds needed to sell, otherwise the efforts of so many would be failed. We also knew that if beneficiation was proven successful in Botswana, it would be the guiding light for so many other poverty stricken African nations to follow suit.
Jewelers cannot afford to ignore our social and ecological responsibilities because it is important to our customers and becoming even more relevant. Our industry is very fortunate to have leaders like Terry Burman from Sterling Jewelers, Mike Kowalski from Tiffany, and Matt Runci and his team at JA for leading the way in providing awareness and guidance in this area to the entire jewelry business.
