“The old pipeline has changed dramatically,” he said in a talk on 28 May. “The new pipeline favors the mega-mining companies selling to mega-cutting companies selling to mega-retailing companies. The deck is stacked against independent jewellers.”

He noted that today there are retailers like Tiffany, that have cutting facilities and mining companies that own retailers. So, “there are goods coming into the pipeline, but, for many jewellers, they are still hard to find,” he said. “There are shortages in many areas. Three-carat-plus across the board have just about disappeared,” Hasenfeld added.

“Foreign diamond demand is outpacing the US. The US is rapidly losing ground to developing and stronger economies in China, India, the Middle East, and Europe.”

The weak US dollar is also a factor. “While we are complaining about diamond prices going up, your European and Canadian counterparts are laughing,” he said. “They are buying goods better than they ever did.”

Hasenfeld reminded listeners of the Alrosa president's recent proposition that the diamond industry needn't trade in dollars anymore. “That will send our prices through the roof,” he said.

There also are new manufacturing costs because of producing countries’ insisting on indigenous diamond manufacturing. “My opinion is this will go away,” Hasenfeld said. “Anything that is not ruled by economics won’t last.”

Independent retailers also are affected by changes in diamond advertising.
 
In many ways, he said, the “deck is stacked” against independent jewellers. With supply tight, suppliers in the United States are focusing on key accounts. “Less inventory becomes available for spot purchasers,” he said.

To “restack the deck,” he said, jewellers should “focus their buying” on a smaller number of suppliers. “If you are dealing with 10 suppliers, no one knows your needs.”
 
In addition, there are “riches in the niches,” he told his audience. “Become important in a certain niche,” he advised, adding that jewellers need unique products that weren’t available elsewhere. “Available only at is a powerful phrase,” he noted.

“It separates you from online competitors and it allows a greater margin. The point of a niche product is you are no longer selling a commodity. And if we move away from the commodity, all of a sudden we can all make a few more bucks.”

He advised retailers to become important to their suppliers.

He also advised not to take five stones for one memo call and when one has a memo stone, to get the unsold stones back to him quickly.

He noted that while there are a lot of stones listed on online services, in the end using them as a prime source is risky, because “availability is uncertain and quality assurance is nil.”

He also noted that the industry relies too much on price lists. “The only true price information is testing and calling,” Hasenfeld said.