By Chen Yingying

During a short period less than 20 years, the jewelry industry of China has been growing up rapidly and the domestic market has maintained a continual prosperity. Diamonds as a kind of mainstream jewelry products have been selling well without any decline, and there has appeared a new zeal for emeralds and gems. In 2006, the domestic sale of jewelry and gem jewelry amounted to RMB160 billion yuan. At the same time, the technology of bijouterie processing is getting increasingly mature and major products of such top brands in the world as Tiffany and Cartier are also processed within the boundaries of China. Yet, the top-ranking production and processing technology have not cultivated any top-ranking jewelry brand in China and there still lack a batch of internationally competitive domestic jewelry enterprises.

The market will get further subdivided and brands must have their definite orientation

Jewelry brands like Caibai Jewelry, Colorful Yunnan, and Yuewang have been selected as Famous brands in China in 2006, but there is still a long way to go for brands in China to become internationally competitive.

Currently, there still exists a so-called "OEM processing" phenomenon that certain Chinese jewelry enterprises will register a trade mark abroad and then they will sell their products with a "foreign" trademark in China. And there once appeared a very serious homogeneity between brands, thus making the individuality of brands and products blurred. Now, the situation that various parties swarmed into the jewelry industry in pursuit of excessive profits has disappeared as the jewelry market is getting increasingly mature. To be provided with a lasting competitiveness, domestic jewelry enterprises have to have a definite orientation for their brands and the enterprises themselves. Chow Tai Fook Jewellery Co., Ltd. from Hong Kong, which made it clear at the very beginning that the major direction was the mid-end market, has become the most popular jewelry brand in Southeast Asia while Beijing Caishikou Department Store, which adheres to the conception of popular consumption of gold and jewelries, has also harvested abundant returns with an annual turnover of over RMB1.5 billion yuan.

In recent years, the sale of large diamonds and rubies, sapphires, emeralds, or gems with a high quality has been increasing rapidly. As the high end jewelry market is getting heated and the jewelry market is getting subdivided, the specialized management of jewelry enterprises is also a trend. The Colorful Yunnan Commerce and Trade Co., Ltd., which came to Beijing in 2004, gives its priority to emeralds while Beijing Fanghua Jewelry Co., Ltd. situated in Hongqiao Market, Beijing mainly deals with pearl jewelries, both enterprises present a good development momentum at present.

Both marketing and design to get in line with international practices

 A piece of Swarovski crystal jewelry, the selling price of which is 90 Euros in Paris, will sell at RMB1, 800 yuan in China. Ke Jie, a deputy director of the National Gemstone Testing Center, told the reporter that in fact crystals were simply low-end products among various jewelries and the hot sale of Swarovski crystal jewelry in China was simply rooted in the mighty commercial operations and promotions.

In terms of the marketing conception, the domestic jewelry enterprises lag far behind the international level. Before 2004, domestic jewelry brands nearly did no large-scale advertising and promotion activities; but it can be said that in recent years, domestic jewelry dealers are trying their best to broaden the concept of their products. Last September, Colorful Yunnan Commerce and Trade Co., Ltd. put forth a "Fashionable Emerald Beauties" Press to issue its new products and the over 1,000 pieces of emerald decorations exhibited were interpreted into three categories of "Cleverness", "Loveliness", and "Charms" targeted at female consumers falling into different age groups. But Caishikou Department Store Co., Ltd. defined gold as "having a warm color" and this year, Caishikou Department Store Co., Ltd. together with the Platinum Guild International launched a project of "set rings" to advocate purchasing three rings in the form of "a diamond ring with platinum band plus a pair of platinum rings": the luxurious diamond ring will be worn on the marital ceremony and the pair of contracted platinum rings can be worn in daily life.

Though an order form of top-ranking brands in the world can be well fulfilled by the domestic processing technology, the domestic designing capacity still lags behind the international advanced level. Now, certain brands have begun to cooperate with colleges and universities in holding professional workshops and organizing students to take part in contests selecting out talents at jewelry design like the CCTV Jewelry Design Contest. To fully complete the course from "Made in China" to "Created in China", there are still heavy responsibilities for domestic jewelry enterprises to shoulder.

 Famous brands can only be cultivated by the domestic market

 Domestic consumers, who had no knowledge about jewelry, have developed a certain kind of requirements on the quality and design now. Originally, gold and silver were cherished but jewelry was despised; then, jewelry became accepted. Originally, people tended to get satisfied so long as they could get a piece of jewelry; then, people began to pay attention to the clarity and color of diamonds. Originally, people believed that 0.3 carat diamonds could be use to preserve value; then they believe 0.5 carat diamonds could be used to preserve value; now, people believe the diamond above 1 karat can be used to preserve value.

Nevertheless, certain consumers behave irrationally when purchasing jewelry: they have excessively strict requirements on the class of diamonds by simply judging diamonds according to their carats; in case of gold jewelry, they only pay attention to the weight. It is very easy for most consumers to neglect the fact that exquisite processing technology can also make it possible for jewelry to be used for preserving value. Mr. Ke Jie lodged a new concept that jewelry can get assets condensed and the objective in purchasing jewelry should be further changed from simply financing and collection to investment.

In addition, sometimes consumers tend to believe that the design technology of domestic brands is inferior to that of major international brands. However, as a matter of fact, domestic dealers' design conception is based on the mass consumption in the market and suitable for the mainstream market. Therefore, it is also necessary for consumers to improve their capability to appreciate jewelry while it is necessary to get the design level of domestic brands improved. The improvement of consumers' capability to appreciate jewelry will be conducive to their supervision on manufacturers and dealers; and the improvement in consumers' conception and appreciation levels will also be highly beneficial to accelerating the development of the domestic jewelry design technology. Ke Jie believed that it was sure that brands could only be cultivated by the domestic consumption market.

Entering into a stage of brand-based development featured with shaping up corporate images from a stage of scale development during which the number of enterprises increased sharply, China's jewelry industry is being faced with unprecedented opportunities for its development. Who takes the lead to make efforts will take the lead in the industry.