The World Gemological Institute (WGI), an international diamond grading and research center recently completed a large consumer research study with the Jewelry Consumer Opinion Council (JCOC), the research division of MVI Marketing Ltd (MVI). The research included topics like consumer awareness of the various existing diamond grading labs, the necessity of grading reports to make diamond purchases, and willingness on the part of consumers to accept grading reports from laboratories that were unfamiliar to them.
The research revealed that although consumer awareness of the importance of grading reports was very strong (over 50% stated that it is important) there seemed to be a somewhat strong awareness of the larger established labs such as AGS, GIA, and IGI.
“One topic we wanted to test the truth of was the widely-held retailer belief that consumers will only accept diamond grading reports from laboratories they are familiar with,” said President of MVI and JCOC Liz Chatelain.
Only 13% of respondents stated that they would not accept a diamond if it came from a lab they did not recognize. The other 87% of respondents stated that they would accept a report as legitimate even if they were not familiar with the lab.
“The consumer respondents also seemed to display confusion about the various labs and a difficulty in telling them apart,” Chatelain added.
“The findings are very important for us in formulating our US marketing strategy. The American consumer has a very high awareness of diamond grading, and knows exactly what he or she wants when buying a diamond. The US is the largest market for Israeli diamonds and as plays a very important role in WGI’s business decisions,” said MD of the IDI group Eli Avidar.
WGI undertook this research study in order to learn what the American consumer wants from a diamond grading report.