The Jewelry Industry in 2023: Top Trends and Best Practices

In the coming year, the economic outlook for most of the world looks set to be a rocky path, with retail likely being one of the first industries to feel it.
Rising inflation is pushing up the prices of both everyday necessities and luxury desirables. At the same time, supply chain disruption negatively impacts operations, encouraging some retailers to push prices up even further.

The answer? Leverage the power and potential of 2023’s biggest trends to provide consumers with new and exciting experiences that will keep them coming back. Read our glimpse-into-the-future list to discover the top retail trends you can adopt to reach and resonate with modern consumers in 2023.

Livestream Shopping

From Gucci and Chanel to March Jacobs and Brandon Maxwell, global luxury brands are mastering Livestream Shopping and leading an e-commerce revolution. In fact, Coresight Research predicts that live shopping events will reach $35 billion by 2024, 3.3% of all US eCommerce.
A live selling event involves retailers showcasing their products through livestreams (usually via social media), allowing customers to ask questions, and buy/reserve products through the stream in real-time. Blending entertainment with instant purchasing, live commerce offers businesses a new channel with enormous scope for creating value and improving brand appeal and differentiation to attract a new younger audience.

Here are 3 best practices for a successful Livestreaming Shopping event:

• Get on the right social selling platform. Instagram, TikTok, and Snap reach younger audiences, while LinkedIn is great for networking in the professional world. Facebook and Twitter are big for salespeople, given their emphasis on discussion. Reddit and YouTube comment threads often draw enthusiasts with deep knowledge of a topic or those looking to learn.
  
  
• Time-limited tactics such as one-off coupons can be used to generate a sense of urgency and accelerate conversion.
  
  
• Choose the host wisely. 61% of consumers trust influencers’ recommendations, so influencers are obvious choices, but you also need to make sure their audience aligns well with your brand. You can also leverage employees, sales staff, and even loyal customers—all of whom know your products inside and out.

Fendi Live hosted by Tamara Kalinic

Trend-Focused and Accessible Jewelry for the Younger Clientele

For a long time, “trends” and “accessibility” were taboos in luxury jewelry, while the concept of timelessness, as seen in De Beers’ “A Diamond Is Forever,” dominated. No longer.
The jewelry industry has had a reckoning over the last few years, as a new generation of jewelry labels is finding success in responding to demand with more trend-focused and accessible pieces. Designers are now increasingly engaging a younger clientele with styles that are more avant-garde than enduring.

Dior, for instance, included in their 2022 lines a men’s pearl necklace with diamond-set cactus bursting with enamel blooms. This one’s beyond the classics, no doubt about it.

Dior Homme © YANNIS VLAMOS.  Photo credit: Financial Times

Lab-grown diamonds are a way for retailers to keep up with the trends of 2023 and offer consumer-centric collections that are more accessible. Furthermore, being created by technology and can be graded with Sarine’s technology, they offer a less controversial option for the mindful consumer. See Sarine’s Lab Grown digital diamond grading report.

Sustainability and Diversity Management Roles Must-Haves

2022 was the year of sustainability in the diamond industry. The subject of sustainability and diamond traceability was undeniably everywhere and had really become more than a buzzword or a trend and transformed into a core value for every respectful brand. To succeed in retail in 2023, businesses must continue to adapt to the fact that shoppers' buying decisions increasingly lie around the questions of ethics, environmentalism, and sustainability. You can see it reflected in leading jewelry brands that created new high-ranking management positions that focus on ensuring the sustainability of every part of the business. Among them are Katerina Reilly, Tifanny’s Global sustainability specialist, and Maïlys Mantel, Cartier’s Sustainability Project Manager.

As conscious consumers continue to define the retail landscape, from under the vast sustainability umbrella, diversity emerged and has become higher and higher on the agenda in recent years. In fact, 70% of Millennials have indicated that they will choose a brand solely based on inclusion and diversity in their advertising.
Just recently, De Beers has named the Kenyan-Mexican Academy Award-winning actor Lupita Nyong'o as its first global ambassador. Nyong was named one of Forbes’ Africa’s 50 Most Powerful Women, and together, they aim to promote women, girls, and diversity, according to De Beers Group CEO Bruce Cleaver.

Here are 3 tips to optimize your brand’s diversity:

• Start internally and hire diverse team members. Research found that a team with a member who shares a client’s ethnicity is 152% likelier than another team to understand that client.
• Showcase human diversity in your website, social media accounts, campaigns, and ads, while aligning it to your local market's diversity composition.
• Honor your target audience’s major holidays and post about them on social media.
  
  

Next-Generation Web Technologies

At the moment, Web3 and Metaverse are the most prominent new kids on the block.
Web3 represents the next era of the World Wide Web and is essentially an idea of a decentralized Internet where the power to control is not with a few leaders, organizations, or entities. The core infrastructure of Web3 works on blockchain technology that offers unprecedented security, transparency, Traceability, and immutability to users. This basically means that Web 3 will transform the way information is stored, shared, and owned online and reshape how we buy, own, and value jewelry.

The past few months have been a rough awakening for many Web3 enthusiasts as crypto markets tumble, and many NFT collections have also seen their values plunge. Ethereum, which is commonly used to buy and mint the digital assets, has declined 78.7% since its all-time high in November, according to dashboard Messari.  With that being said, many experts, including McKinsey, say that while buffeted by the recent market downturn and bankruptcies, digital assets and the technologies underlying them still have the potential to transform business models across sectors.

Metaverse is a 3-dimensional, immersive next-generation version of the internet, mostly rendered by AR and VR technology, that can transform jewelry from a lifeless matter to an interactive experience. The Metaverse also offers Infinite space for jewelry brands with limitless opportunities to engage with customers, entertain, promote products, and deliver a mind-blowing retail experience. With its potential estimated by Mckinsey to generate up to $5 trillion in value by 2030, the Metaverse is too big for companies to ignore.

Fashion and luxury brands are putting pedals to the metal to innovate with the speed of digital technology. While Prada is expanding its Web3 offering, Gucci is building ​​The Gucci Vault Discord, digital realms with many Web3 wonders across the Metaverse.

The goal? To go beyond the hype and embrace the future, and so should you.
But how do we navigate a virtual world that is still taking shape? In a recent webinar, “What Does Web3 Mean for Jewellery?” Jodie Marie Smith, an adviser to jewelry brands, suggests starting with research “there are podcasts and fantastic articles being written. And to connect one-on-one with the creators, the talent, and the people who talk about it because all of this is about community. Reach out to anyone. Everyone who is involved is excited to talk about it and share ideas.”

2023 Top Jewelry Trends Every Diamond Jeweler Should Know:

Elongated Chandelier Earrings

Women should better train their ears for 2023 as the jewelry for them won’t be light to wear. Large chandelier earrings with huge crystals and gemstones have become the central element of many fashion collections. For example, Giambattista Valli and Ralph Lauren went all out with weighty chandelier earrings.
As to the earrings for men, the favorite choice is still the studs. But this year, they shouldn’t be invisible and humble. Noticeable and lustrous diamond studs for men are made to accent their status and exceptional taste.

Model wearing Anita Ko’s multi floral drop earrings in Fendi Couture Haute Couture Fall Winter 2022 2023 show as part of Paris Fashion Week on July 07, 2022, in Paris, France. (Photo by Peter White/Getty Images)

Multi-Shape Diamond Jewelry

Ariana DeBose wearing De Beers multi-shaped diamond necklace for the SAG Awards 2022. Credit: SAG Awards

Pearls Power

This past few months, we’ve seen pearls everywhere. In necklaces, chokers, bracelets, and earrings with diamonds, colored gemstones, silver, and gold - it’s clear that the pearl revolution will still be going strong in 2023.

Estate Diamond Jewelry Edwardian necklace, Assael “Double Trouble” Tahitian Pearl Earrings,
Givenchy Fall 2022 Ready-To-Wear, Assael Luminosity Cuff.

Gender-Fluid Jewellery

With gender inclusion continuing to be a hot topic across the world, it should be no surprise that the jewelry industry is doing its part in being diverse and breaking stereotypes. Many high-jewelry brands are doing this by blurring the lines between men and women and unsubscribing to gender norms. The iconic Tiffany & Co, who broke into the gender-fluid market some time ago, continues down this path with their recently released Tiffany Lock. Bold and elegant, this piece of Jewelry will look great on both men and women.

Whereas last year and for a few years prior, gender-fluid jewelry was a novelty picked up by the few and far between, as we head into 2023, we’re already seeing a number of renowned brands pick up on the trend. The long list includes names like Tom Wood, Ana Luisa, Emanuele Bicocchi, and Alighieri. With that, it has been predicted that this trend will continue growing in 2023 and beyond.

Photo: Tiffany & Co., Tiffany Lock, Elle Magazine

Luxury 4.0 Has Arrived

For decades, the luxury shopping experience could have been mustered up by a few different facets. A stoic clerk, a sterile store, and a slight mood of mystery. Over the past couple of years, aspects of luxury retail have changed and alluded to a shopping experience that relates more to the modern generation. That experience is called Luxury 4.0.

While remnants of this trend have been seen via the ever-present phygital shopping experience, the combination of your traditional brick-and-mortar retail experience and the digital, we’re about to face full-scale Luxury 4.0. So, what exactly does this entail?

It means a more precise and customized shopping experience. This is possible by enabling brands with the ability to collect more customer information through advanced analytics and big data. Not only will this use of data help brands provide a better, more personalized, and customizable shopping experience, but it will also help them create a more transparent and fluid manufacturing segment.

The trend of a more personalized and customizable shopping experience means that luxury products have just become a lot rarer and more exclusive to the buyer, as they can now own something that truly is one of a kind. Many luxury companies are turning to customization platforms, which allow shoppers to change several product features. Some of the most popular brands going down this route are Louis Vuitton, which allows customization on their bags, Dior, which is doing the same for their shoes, and Gucci, with their DIY project.

While this trend is still budding and available with only a few select brands, one can’t help but think about where this trend will be by the time we’re on the other side of 2023. Not only do we predict this will make way for more unique spins on fashion, but it will also take self-expression to brand new heights.