Retail

New York property developer and ex-diamond dealer Gary Barnett is will fundamentally change the city’s Diamond District if plans go ahead, says a report in the New York Post.  

Barnett has reportedly spent years buying 10 buildings in the Diamond District’s 47th Street, 46th Street and Fifth Avenue corridor. He plans to demolish them all — perhaps to build a giant diamond hotel, the report says.

A  study in Britain has underlined the continuing importance of physical stores in driving retail sales.

The survey makes for interesting reading given the emphasis placed by Millennials on digital connections.

The survey revealed that of the £313 billion ($410 billion) spent by UK shoppers last year, £278 billion (89%) “touched” a store through physical sales, click & collect and online sales browsed in store, according to research firm Verdict Retail and British Land cited by Professional Jeweller.

The Forevermark diamond brand has launched its first India-specific advertising campaign, featuring Capricci, a nose pin collection which has been released across all advertising formats.

Forevermark India President Sachin Jain said, "This is our first India-based campaign. In India, as per our diamond acquisition study, the nose pin is the second most widely purchased item after finger rings." India's diamond jewelry consumer market is estimated at $8 billion per annum, according to a Times of India report.

Online diamond and jewelry retailer Blue Nile is opening another bricks-and-mortar location as it seeks to unite Internet sales with a brick-and-mortar presence.

The new 'Webroom' will be opened this summer at the Washington Square Mall in Portland, Oregon.

Earlier this month, Blue Nile announced its third such online/offline hybrid retail model would be opened near Washington D.C. following two such stores being opened in New York.

India's gold and jewelry markets began re-opening on Monday after traders ended an almost three-week strike.

The industrial action caused huge revenue losses for businesses, while the government lost taxes of hundreds of millions of dollars.

The strike aimed to lead the government to repeal a 1% excise duty on gold and diamond jewelry that was proposed in the 2016-17 budget.

The issue of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) strategies in the gemstone and jewelry sectors came under the spotlight at a seminar held at the VICENZAORO January show in Vicenza, Italy, on January 24.

The seminar was part of a joint program by CIBJO and Fiera di Vicenza to promote CSR education in the jewelry sector. The seminar was supported by Gemfields PLC, the world's largest colored gemstone mining company.

CEO Sidney Toledano said that although China's rate of economic growth and demand for diamonds is declining and luxury sales are also on a downward trajectory, the jewelry and fashion house is still seeing solid consumer demand.

In particular, demand is strong for jewelry.

"We had years where we had super strong, double-digit growth,” said Toledano. “It is not double-digit now, but we are in line with our plans, and we are confident for the coming years.

The U.S. economy expanded at a rate of just 2% in the third quarter of this year which was less than previously officially reported by the government.

The revised figures indicate that more than six years into a recovery, the economy is growing at a rate that that is lower than the historical average.

The official revision downwards to 2% from the previous 2.1% was a result of a larger trade deficit and a lower increase in inventories than earlier estimates showed.

A Hong Kong jewelry retailer called Plukka is allowing customers to see and feel their products before committing to buying them.

The firm believes the move is a good way of dealing with the worst retail downturn in more than a decade, with tourists from Mainland China deterred from spending by a weaker yuan and the Beijing government's crackdown on corruption and conspicuous spending,

In a further sign of the growing power of the Chinese economy, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has brought China's currency, the yuan, to its benchmark currency basket.

China has long sought global recognition of its enormous economic power.

The yuan, also known as the renminbi, joins the dollar, euro, pound sterling and yen in the Special Drawing Rights (SDR) basket.