GemThoughts

 Here is the list of issues we have been covering — we are up to number 10, our last. The Gig Economy Millennials Climate Change Consolidation and/or Decline Natural Diamonds vs Lab-Grown Banking Image  Demographics Retail Evolution Industry Structure _________________________________________ I come now to the last of the posts covering ten aspects of the jewelry business that I see as important for us to consider.  Of course, I started all of this over a year ago, well before we knew the word Covid.  All trends move along- that is part of the definition of that word.  But I took my time, being well immersed in this business, one which rarely moves along faster than a snail. The jewelry business has been around for thousands of years.  Some technologies have remained essentially the same.  Other technologies have enhanced and broadened manufacturing, and, in the process, have made the distribution and selling of jewelry more complex, more inter-reliant, and more regional, if not global

Here is the list of issues we have been covering — we are up to number 9. The Gig Economy Millennials Climate Change Consolidation and/or Decline Natural Diamonds vs Lab-Grown Banking Image  Demographics Retail Evolution Industry Structure _________________________________________________________________ We have all been witnesses to an economy under sustained pressure.  The pandemic is indiscriminate in its attacks, but the effects are very diverse.  Our cities are marked by closings of retailers of all sizes and channels, many of which will not reopen when the pandemic passes. I have held off writing on this subject simply to see if any predictive patterns emerge, or if the Federal Government comes up with additional assistance to carry business owners past the crisis.  The pattern is not totally clear, but we already see that retailing is seeing changes that will be permanent, regardless of what the government ends up doing whenever it emerges from paralysis. About a year and a half

Here is the list of issues we have been covering — we are up to number 8. The Gig Economy Millennials Climate Change Consolidation and/or Decline Natural Diamonds vs Lab-Grown Banking Image  Demographics Retail Evolution Industry Structure _________________________________________________________________ I am always surprised at the range and depth of demographic information that gets published in every media.  The flood of data that the federal government and private organizations gather and distribute gives us a remarkable view of where we stand, and where we have been.  Maybe even where we are headed. As ever in demographics, the view is global, or national, and then, if one is interested, it can be sliced and diced even further by state or city.  For us in the gem and jewelry business, it is helpful to see macro trends and projections, even though we are such a stratified and fragmented industry that our specific outlooks can vary greatly.   Let's start by lo

Here is the list of issues we have been covering — we are up to number 7. The Gig Economy Millennials Climate Change Consolidation and/or Decline Natural Diamonds vs Lab-Grown Banking Image  Demographics Retail Evolution Industry Structure _______________________________________ I have been writing about these "issues" for a while.  I did not start out trying to put them in any particular order, but here we are addressing the first of the last four, and all are bound to be particularly affected by the pandemic, no doubt in ways that none of us could have conceived of just months ago.   The definition of image, and how that definition is being forcefully altered, is one we ponder carefully these days.  The word itself is in many ways more powerful than an alternate that some people use - brand.  Some brands, say Coca Cola, have instant global recognition, but what we retain is sensory - what it tastes like, what the classic bottle looks like.  Such images

Trade shows have been an essential part of the jewelry business in the US for the last half century or more.  We have seen transitions, expansions, contractions, and evolution over those years, but we now confront unfamiliar, highly disruptive forces. Pandemic and social distress. The pandemic will leave us with an altered retail environment, but it is one that was coming slowly anyway.  Department stores have not been able to counter the efficiencies and range of cyber-retail, and have been shrinking and fading for years now.  Independent stores of all sorts, not just jewelry, have also been disappearing at a rapid rate, though mostly because the country became badly over-stored in the boom years of the malls, and for many other reasons. So something had to change.  We didn't know into what, but we did know that retail formats were not keeping up with how people lived, worked, and shopped. What I recall so clearly are the halcyon days when there were dozens of expanding jew

_____________________________________ Here is the list of issues we have been covering — we are up to number 6. The Gig Economy Millennials Climate Change Consolidation and/or Decline Natural Diamonds vs Lab-Grown Banking Image  Demographics Retail Evolution Industry Structure _______________________________________ Have you been wondering where I am?  So have I.  We have all, it seems, been wandering in a wilderness with no milestones, road signs, or even taco carts.  I started out months ago offering some thoughts about an industry that was having a bumpy ride, and found that when I was half way through, everything was turned on its head.  So I paused, just to see what we might see as we look ahead that is not a mirage. But now, as we observe worldwide assaults on the status quo, ailing as it is, we need to stand back, take a deep breath, and prepare to dive into very unfamiliar seas. Our case in point in this post - banking.  Answer - what banking?  There isn&