VDB, the sourcing and trading app for the jewelry industry, has released a new category of products: lab-grown diamonds. The lab-grown products will be segregated from mined diamonds, but will offer all the visual and technical search, buy, hold, and memo features of the VDB platform.
“This may be viewed as a controversial move by some in the jewelry industry,” said Tanya Nisguretsky, President of VDB. “We didn’t do it to be controversial. We made the decision to offer lab-grown because so many retailers are offering this product category to an increasingly interested consumer. And we want to help our customer base make thoughtful, informed decisions about the products they offer. That’s what the VDB platform does best – it informs and facilitates a higher quality sourcing process.”
The Lab-Grown category on the VDB app is separated from mined diamonds. When users open the app, they will now see four categories: diamonds, color gemstones, finished jewelry, and lab-grown. To date, 11 lab-grown suppliers have signed up with VDB, and more than 4,800 lab-grown stones are available on the app, including high-quality photography and many with 360-degree views. With high interest among lab-grown suppliers, more are expected over the next few weeks.
“We thought it was important to separate lab-grown in the app, similar to the way retailers should be careful to segregate their lab and mined diamond inventories in the store,” said Tanya, “This is an important discipline all jewelry businesses carrying both lab and mined should follow, and we decided to emulate that best business practice in the digital environment as well.”
For retailers, the new lab-grown search means they can offer thousands more items to their customers. In the rapidly-developing market for lab-grown diamonds, finding and selecting lab-grown partners can be time-consuming and confusing. VDB makes it easy by offering a vetted community of lab-grown dealers.
Retailers and designers offering lab-grown have also discovered that quality control on lab-grown diamonds is slightly different than quality control on mined, and there is typically a higher rejection rate on receipt of lab-grown compared to mined. The VDB app – with its mobile-first technology and high quality images and 360-degree views – helps make the visual aesthetics of the stones clear before the expense and time of shipping has been incurred. For more information, contact Holly Mui via [email protected].
