Charles & Colvard decided to change the game and launched a business-to-business digital portal to sell loose gemstones to independent jewelers.
The fine jewelry company, which specializes in moissanite, lab-grown diamonds and other gemstones, has transitioned its wholesale business model away from distributors through the creation of its charlesandcolvarddirect.com trade portal, which launched last week.
“For almost 30 years, we have used only private distributors who sell to independent retailers. That has been the main focus of our wholesale business. It helped tell our story, promote our brand, and build our brand. Therefore, given the current environment in the world and the way we seek to control our own destiny, we In the future, we will push past these distributors and approach independent companies directly,” he said in an interview with WWD.
“Portal is a significant change and growth catalyst for us,” O'Connell said. “This allows these independent companies to get agency prices.…We use the term 'disintermediation.' First, we built a portal to pass the savings back to independent retailers, artisans, and jewelers. Second, portals allow you to control prices.
“Direct action is really important,” O'Connell stressed. “We have spent a tremendous amount of time and energy building this web portal so that jewelers can experience our brand in a truly efficient manner. It has been nearly a year in the making.”
Don O'Connell
The portal will enable Charles & Colvard-approved retailers and jewelers to target price-conscious consumers with the Forever One premium moissanite brand of jewelry, as well as Forever Bright, Charles & Colvard's previous rebrand of moissanite. , you will be able to browse and purchase Charles & Colvard jewelry. Colvard brand. Mr. O'Connell said that magnifying Forever's Bright gemstones can reveal “slight” cut, clarity, or polishing imperfections, but the brand compares to moissanite developed in foreign countries such as China and the price. and have higher quality standards. “Look to us to come up with a meaningful way to prove to consumers that Charles & Colvard complies with recognized moissanite quality and standards,” he said.
In other Charles & Colvard news, two important partnerships have been signed with Fred Meyer Jewelers and the Army and Air Force Exchange Service.
Fred Meyer Jewelers, a national chain owned by Fred Meyer Hypermarkets, a subsidiary of Kroger, sells Forever Bright Moissanite in more than 80 varieties of 14-carat recycled gold pendants, including bridal, fashion, and more. , earrings, and rings. , and everyday works.
Army & Air Force Exchange Service (also known as The Exchange) is a major retailer and part of the United States Department of Defense. The company says it sells Forever Bright moissanite on shopmyexchange.com, which includes 172 styles of pendants, earrings and rings made from “responsibly sourced” precious metals. The exchange provides duty-free products to military personnel and their families and operates more than 5,100 facilities in more than 30 countries.
Complete jewelry styles featuring Charles & Colvard gemstones are available for purchase by consumers at charlesandcolvard.com or at Macy's, Kohl's, Belk, The Bay, Amazon, eBay, Walmart and Helzberg Diamonds. Charles & Colvard arranges dropshipping with these retailers.
On Tuesday, Charles & Colvard named actress Skylar Samuels as its brand ambassador. According to her announcement, “Samuels will be the new face of the company's mission to create conflict-free, beautiful and ethical fine jewelry, starting with her upcoming Mother's Day promotion.” Samuels is best known for her roles in television series such as 'Wizards of Waverly Place,' Marvel's 'The Gifted,' 'Scream Queens,' 'American Horror Story,' and the mystery film 'Aurora.' is known.
For the quarter ended December 31, 2023, Charles & Colvard reported net sales of $7.9 million, a 24% decrease from $10.4 million in the same period last year. Gross profit for the quarter was $2.9 million, for a gross profit margin of 36%. This compares to gross profit of $4.3 million and gross margin of 41% in the year-ago period. Net loss was $2.9 million, or 9 cents per diluted share, compared with a net loss of $1 million, or 3 cents per diluted share, in the prior year period. The company was debt-free and had $11.1 million in cash at the end of the quarter, with inventory down to $25.8 million. Charles & Colvard, a Nasdaq exchange-listed company headquartered in North Carolina's Research Triangle His Park area, was founded in 1995 as a pioneer in lab-grown gemstones, specifically moissanite, which is formed from silicon carbide. All of the company's gemstones are incorporated into fine jewelry. “Everything he does is made of 14 or 18 carat gold or platinum. We only work with recycled precious metals,” O'Connell said.
“Moissanite's direct-to-consumer business remains strong and growing through additional partners,” O'Connell said. “However, moissanite has rapidly come under downward pressure as the price of lab-grown diamonds has fallen significantly by more than 85% over the last year, approaching the price of moissanite. O'Connell said the new business-to-business portal is “our answer to that, to stabilize that situation and provide pricing to independent businesses in a meaningful way.” “This will increase our competitiveness with companies.” Laboratory-grown diamonds (prices) have fallen. O'Connell said Charles & Colvard worked with fewer than 10 distributors.
“Our lab-grown diamond business is also doing well. But the problem is that prices have come down a lot. There's very little margin there.” “I question whether I should continue using lab-grown diamonds just because there is so much competition.” Or are you turning to moissanite, which can generate (bigger) margins? ”Both moissanite and diamonds are graded by the four “Cs” for color, clarity, carat, and cut, but moissanite is a little softer than diamond.
“The current business environment for the jewelry industry faces a variety of obstacles,” O'Connell said. O'Connell said that aside from the pressure from lower lab-grown diamond prices and pricing, millennials are taking longer to decide whether to get married or get engaged.
“And the price of gold is now over $2,340 an ounce,” he added. “This is a very big issue that the market is grappling with and trying to understand. Over the past few months, gold prices have gone from $1,700 an ounce to $2,300-plus an ounce. I would have to.”
When asked what's trending, O'Connell said: “The bridal and anniversary business has definitely slowed down, and there's been a shift towards fashion jewelry, which is designs and beautiful jewelry that consumers want to wear every day. That was a really big thing for us.”
