GJEPC along with De Beers Hosts Townhall to give Indian Diamond Industry Clarity on ‘Lightbox’ Brand

The meeting which was held this afternoon was led by Paul Rowley, Executive VP, De Beers and had top line diamantaires in attendance.
GJEPC along with De Beers Hosts Townhall to give Indian Diamond Industry Clarity on ‘Lightbox’ Brand

De Beers’ announcement of its LGD brand Lightbox has left the industry perplexed. For one, the concerned people are wondering how a company which has been an advocate of natural diamonds for over a century can now get into the space of LGDs. But most of all, what they are really worried about is what this means for the industry.

Considering India is one of the major destinations for cut and polished diamonds it was likely that De Beers gathered a meeting to give the industry people some lucidity regarding its unorthodox move. The meeting that was held in Trident, BKC had the presence of Partners and MDs of diamond companies and was also a clandestine affair.

The presentation led by Paul Rowley, Executive VP, De Beers, focused on differentiating their Lightbox brand from their Natural Diamond brand, throwing light on the kind of LGDs they will be manufacturing, their pricing and so on. ‘I don’t think the industry should be alarmed. As per the presentation, this brand is clearly meant for connoisseurs of fashion jewellery. At the end of the day everybody has to survive right? There is a market for everybody!’ said an industry professional who didn’t want to be named.

‘This was just a branding exercise for their Lightbox brand. We didn’t hear anything new. This move is definitely going to affect the natural diamond industry because people are going to go in for the cheaper option,’ said a diamantaire who wanted to maintain his anonymity.

The Lightbox brand has been introduced to the market by De Beers after a thorough research which indicates that there is a lot of consumer confusion regarding laboratory-grown diamonds, what they are, how they are made, and how the differ from natural diamonds. Lightbox will therefore be clear with consumers about what laboratory-grown diamonds are, and its branding and marketing will be very distinct from our natural diamonds brands, Forevermark and De Beers Jewellers. The De Beers Group name, which is so synonymous with natural diamonds, will not be used in Lightbox marketing, to further minimise any risk of consumer confusion.

‘Today’s Townhall conducted by De Beers was to give clarity over their recent announcement of their lab-grown diamond jewellery brand. Their focus was to make the Indian diamond industry understand how they are going to keep the natural and lab-grown diamond business separate. According to the presentation, colour LGDs like pink and blue would be manufactured in vast quantity while production of white LGDs would be very less. However, only De Beers will manufacture the jewellery,” said Rajiv Shah from D Naresh Kumar Exports.

‘However, a large number of Indian diamantaires were unhappy with the De Beers decision and raised concern over De Beers’ principle of manufacturing LGDs. However, for me, both segments are completely different and there is no reason to worry,” added Rajiv.




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