As the world is undergoing never-ending changes and improvement, so is the jewellery industry as well as its marketing strategy. However, there would always be constant rules among these changes. Through viewing the development course of marketing in the jewellery and other industries, we can see that the jewellery industry marketing has shown at least the following eight trends.

Trend No.1: the traditional Chinese culture will play an increasingly important role in jewellery marketing. For most of the people, the xenophilia is only a temporary interest. Sooner or later they would grow tired of the foreign moon.  With the rise of China’s economy, consumers will find the precious merit of traditional Chinese culture. And thus began shift their attention to their own traditional culture. For instance, nowadays the tunic became increasingly popular on important occasions. It even overshadowed the trend of the western suit, which shows the increasingly prominent role of traditional culture.

Therefore, successful marketing requires an in-depth understanding of the traditional Chinese culture. And it also takes advantage of various opportunities and occasions. For instance, apart from the wedding market, many jewellery companies started to target at the gift market for friends and families, such as gifts for a new-born baby or for parents’ birthday.

Trends No.2: marketing strategy has to be based on the quality of the jewellery. Competition in the jewellery industry would focus on craftsmanship as well as brand value, with brand value playing an increasingly important role in competitions. Those who can seize brand value the ultimate weapon shall score the final victory.

The key for establishing a successful jewellery brand lies neither in advertisement nor famous spokesperson. and even heavy investment would be nothing during the complex and fierce competition although nowadays it is a common practice for jewellery enterprises to hire stars to be their spokesperson, they should always bear in mind that in the early development stage of the brand, attention need to be paid to more important aspects.

According to the Achievebrand Planning Agency, the key to establishing a successful jewellery brand is to size the hearts and minds of the customers. That is to say, the brands should be made to be deeply rooted in the consumers’ mind. Through adopting an ultra low-cost operation concept, step by step the brand could become synonymous with the whole industry. 

It must be pointed out that, in any case, the essence of jewellery marketing is to seize the limited resources of the consumers’ mind. Besides, the market waits for no man, it is always first come, first served. To certain extent, the jewellery market follows the rule of “survival of the very first”, rather than the so-called “survival of the fittest”. Therefore, only those who grasp the trend take the initiative to create the brand successfully could create a better future. Otherwise, they would most definitely perish.

Trend No.3: the jewellery brands will continue their differentiation, and professional brand would generate more recognition among consumers. We all know that jewellery is a big concept, which can be divided into a lot of categories, each having many enterprises engaged. So how would a consumer choose? The sustained economic growth, steady increase in per capita net income, rapid spread of the Internet, and rapid development in e-commerce, have put jewellery enterprises everywhere to a nationwide even worldwide competition, which further increases the consumers’ scope of choice, but at the same time disturbed the consumers’ perspective. How to make a choice became a headache of the consumers. Some of them are even at a loss about what to do. Therefore, the Achievebrand Planning Agency comes to a conclusion that consumer demand for the brand becomes even more specialized and professionalized. To build the brand in a systematic and professionalized way will gradually become the only choice of the jewellery enterprises.
 
For example, we all know the jewellery brand of Chow Tai Fook, because we vaguely know that the Chow Tai Fook Jewellery was founded in 1929 and has a history of about 80 years. However, if we narrow down to specific jewellery products, for example, which brand shall we choose if we are to buy gold products? What about pearl? Crystal? Diamond? Jade? And emerald?

In some regional markets, we may find the top brand for each product. For example, in Shanghai, when buying gold jewellery, consumers will choose Lao Fengxiang, because it was founded in Shanghai in 1848 and has gone through more than 150 years of development. It was the only century-old store that dates back to over 15 decades ago. It has 3 generations, more than 100 designers who won the title of Chinese Arts Master and Senior Artistic, as well as over 300 craftsmen and technicians. Another example is that in Chengdu, consumers usually purchase emerald from the Xue Shi Traditional Jade Shop, as it was founded in 1925, it has handed down thousands years of jade culture and civilization, striving to make its product classics. The jade and emerald from this shop is the benchmark of the jade industry. 

However, viewing from the national jewellery market as a whole, we cannot find a brand that dominates the mind of the consumers. The situation has little resemblance with that on the electric appliance market where we prefer Gree’s airconditioner, Hisense’ convertible frequency air-conditioner, Glanz’s microwave oven, Haier’s refrigerator, and Joyoung’s soymilk machine. In the jewellery market, no such cognition has been made.

This indicates that the jewellery companies must drop its traditional workshop-style business model, namely, a comprehensive product range covering all the categories, regardless of the business size. Instead, they should choose a more professional way of doing business, a solid, consistent efforts to establish the professional brand image, so as to make its brand synonymous with a certain product or category of products. Just as Galanz’s microwave, Qipai’s traditional Stand-up collar suit, or Wong Lo Kat’s herbal tea.

Trend No.4: marketing featuring low-cost and high efficiency becomes increasingly significant. According to the Achievebrand Planning Agency, brand communication requires methods and techniques. Heavy investment does not necessarily have a good result. As is known to all, the effect of the news media is much more powerful than advertisement; what’s more, it enjoys a much lower cost. 

For example, in 2005, pearl products challenged the leading position of the diamond products, an event also known as “Pearl & Diamond War”, had rocked the whole jewellery industry, which had immediately aroused the concerns and the discussion. This campaign has not only enhanced the brand value of the Snowerpearl, but also promoted the whole pearl industry to a new height, which vividly highlights the determination, confidence and courage of the Chinese jewellery enterprises to carry forward the Chinese culture. Once again this reinforced the market position of the Snowerpearl   as China’s top pearl industry. And during this whole marketing procedure, the Snowerpearl invested practically nothing in advertising, as the Phoenix, Sina, Sohu and other authoritative media had already made large amount of coverage. Today, this dispute has become a classic case of China’s jewellery industry .
 
Another example is a promotion campaign by the TESIRO, which dictated that on Valentine’s Day, for those who made a purchase of over 500 Yuan, a  luck draw shall be in place, of which the first prize is a double room and a condom. This is really a controversial practice. People were concerned that will that give rise to premarital sex? Or will this challenge China’s traditional morality? Marketing of this kind is ineffective unless people pay attention.  Therefore, these kinds of controversies are exactly what one company needs, as the controversies always provide good advertisement. And it is advertisement that promotes the brand values. As a result, with an ultra-low cost,   TESIRO has become a household name. No matter how the publics judge this advertising campaign, TESIRO is the only and final winner.

Trend No.5: the profit of OEM -type jewellery business will become thinner and thinner, and its living space would become lesser, as a result, the marketing would become increasingly difficult. In other word, the jewellery industry engaged in manufacturing and processing could survive and develop. However, this kind of enterprise would never disappear, just like the beggars in the city. Or else, they may even make a small fortune. However, it is not possible to become the main trend of the society. This is an important factor which the jewellery enterprises must bear in mind when developing their own brand marketing strategy. Otherwise, simply for the sake of saving trouble or playing safe, the future of the enterprise may get lost in this process, which will be really regrettable.

Trend No.6: the overall quality of the entrepreneurs or boss will become the biggest bottleneck to restrict the marketing process of jewellery enterprises. Problems such as technology, quality, and employees can be more easily resolved. The overall quality of the entrepreneurs or the boss, however, cannot be easily improved. To begin with, the entrepreneur’s personal quality is very important. Secondly, the moral standard of the entrepreneur also plays a crucial role. Last but not least, they need a correct direction of learning as well as sustained learning behaviour.  Why China’s jewellery industry has such a low market concentration? Why there are a lot of small workshops? All these have a great relationship with the overall quality of the jewellery entrepreneur.

Trend No. 7: Internet marketing will become one of the key tactics of the jewellery business marketing strategy. On the one hand, according to China Internet Network Information Centre, by the end of 2009, the number of Internet users in China reached 384 million. On the other hand, cases like Sister Lotus’ overnight popularity through the online marketing, and successful U.S. presidential campaign by internet, showed that with such great number of netizens and successful Internet marketing campaign, online marketing has become increasingly significant.

For example, the success of Zbird, an internet jewellery seller, has opened a new ground for online marketing. In 2002, it set up its first online diamond shop. By 2004, it had opened its first OFFICE – based diamond experience centre. And then, after seven years, the Zbird has promoted the” mouse + cement” diamond sales mode from Shanghai to  Beijing, Hangzhou, Guangzhou , Ningbo, Nanjing , Chengdu and many other cities.

It is worth mentioning that the network marketing and event marketing often work together, but this is a double-edged sword as they may promote the brand value or bring harm to the brand, which requires the jewellery enterprises to master the means of network marketing, otherwise, little knowledge must be a very dangerous thing.

Moreover, when a variety of events and crises of the Internet occurred, if the jewellery enterprises can not make a timely response and failed to make a corresponding marketing strategy, in that case, these enterprises are very likely to be on the brink of danger. Of course, if an event fit for online marketing occurs, the jewellery enterprise should seize the opportunity to leverage the power to play a multiplier effect, otherwise it is a waste of a free golden opportunity to enhance the brand.

Trend No.8: During the process of jewellery marketing, many people like to talk about the homogenization of the product quality. However, as far as I am concerned, in a fairly long period, this statement will be nothing more than a charming, self-deceiving lie. The quality differences between the jewellery products will continue to exist and play an active role. However, the Achievebrand Planning Agency maintains that a jewellery enterprise that solely relies on the product quality could not be a winner in the future marketing competition.  Just like a healthy, beautiful and talented girl is not necessarily a star. The key for a successful marketing lies in its brand operation. As is said in the above-mentioned paragraph, the essence of jewellery marketing is to seize the limited resources of the consumers’ mind and try to make the brand consumers’ first choice.