Jewellery Focus June 2018 | Page 13

MONTH IN REVIEW GO ONLINE www.jewelleryfocus.co.uk 1 2 RETAIL STORES PARTNERSHIPS Forevermark, a diamond brand owned by De Beers, has launched Libert’aime, a new Millennial focused store at HKRI Taikoo Hui in Shanghai, China. Fossil Group has announced that it has signed a global licence partnership with sportswear retailer Puma to design and distribute Puma watches and Smartwatches. The deal which will run until 2028 will see Puma and Fossil Group collaborate on the design and manufacturing of Puma-branded watches and smartwatches, with products planned to hit the market in 2019. The new products will be available through select department stores, specialty retailers and e-commerce channels in Fossil Group’s extensive global network. Kosta Kartsotis, chief executive officer at Fossil Group said: “Puma is one of the world’s leading sports brands. We are excited to partner with them and bring our world class design and distribution capabilities to the Puma watch collection.” Bjørn Gulden, CEO of Puma added: “Time makes or breaks athle tes, which is why the right partner for watches and wearables is particularly critical to our brand. We are pleased to team up with Fossil Group, whose strong focus on innovation will help us make products that fit the needs of our consumers and the world’s fastest athletes.” Since 1997 when Fossil signed its first licensing agreement the company has expanded its portfolio to 17 brands including Diesel, Armani Exchange, Marc Jacobs and Karl Lagerfeld. Forevermark unveils Millennial focused retail store in China The group said the store has been created to “celebrate the spirit of a new generation of women who are strong, unique, and authentic”, and offers diamond jewellery range that has been designed with “a young, fashion-forward self-purchasing consumer in mind”. The store is designed to appeal to the 420 million Millennials in China using an omnichannel model that offers an interactive consumer experience, featuring a 3D diamond wall and a ‘Magic Mirror’ where consumers can share pictures of jewellery with friends and family. Stephen Lussier, CEO of Forevermark, said: “We are delighted to be launching an exciting new retail concept in China, Libert’aime by Forevermark, which brings together an innovative in-store offering with online and social channels to provide customers with a highly engaging and personalised buying experience. “We recognise that our consumer continues to evolve and we are thrilled to be offering a diamond jewellery range that has been designed with a younger, more fashion-forward consumer in mind, who might just be starting their diamond journey.” June 2018 | jewelleryfocus.co.uk Fossil signs partnership agreement with Puma STAT OF THE MONTH $6.7m That’s how much the Farnese Blue, a 6.16-carat pear-shaped dark grey-blue diamond, was sold for. 3 4 5 6 7 8 STORE OPENINGS Shining Diamonds opens first London store Independent jewellery retailer Shining Diamonds has opened its first store in London. The store is located in the jewellery quarter of Hatton Garden, within the Holborn district of London. Shining Diamonds started out as an online-only retailer for diamond jewellery with 20 years of international experience manufacturing and selling diamond engagement rings and diamond jewellery. Plans to open a store were put in place as Shining Diamonds said that it found most higher value customers preferred to view the diamonds and the jewellery they are buying in-store. Shining Diamonds also confirmed it will look to continue strengthening its online business to compliment the new walk-in store. Harshit Jain, managing director, at Shining Diamonds, said: “Here at Shining Diamonds we’re so excited to be able to unveil our new store. There are many great opportunities for us in the pipeline. We plan to offer our online and walk-in customers a seamless and modern experience of buying diamond jewellery. “Customers will soon be able to virtually try-on product designs that we may not have in stock. We’ll also offer an immediate bespoke design service by adding more staff that can handle the design process. “ As well as offering a maximum range of diamonds for customers to pick from, we aim to open in at least three more locations around the UK over the next five years.” JEWELLERY FOCUS 13