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Antwerp
By Marc Goldstein
Over the years, the Antwerp Diamond Trade Fair (ADTF) has evolved. The recently held eighth annual ADTF even had a new name — BrilliAnt —for the exhibition that hosted international retail jewelers and jewelry manufacturers in the halls of the Antwerp Diamond Bourse and Diamond Club of Antwerp. However, while attendees could access events seamlessly from one to the other or go to the various satellite events without missing the core event, some exhibitors have questioned what they can expect in return for their involvement.
Overall, exhibitors noted that the quality of the buyers has declined from year to year. Emanuele Schiappacasse of Arhaan Diam bvba, explained: “The Fair didn’t have much action. A lot of public relations, but that’s it, which was similar to 2016. I’m not sure many people managed to cover their costs. I was here during the second and third editions of the fair, and there’s no doubt that in those days, the quality of the clients, their importance and their buying power were higher. Now I can see they’re inviting even small jewelers.” Indeed, one of the major complaints was that several of the guests were Belgian local jewelers whose annual turnover would only be sufficient to buy a couple of stones at the ADTF. Devanshu Jain of KGK Diamonds bvba commented, “Guests are not what they should be. This is the major and the only point to mention. But we’ll see next year if there’s any improvement.” Serge Borisenkov of Kristall Smolensk elaborated, “On Sunday, there were only red straps around the necks — only exhibitors’ badges — no blue ones that are worn by buyers. The clients here are basically like the small ones from Hong Kong: Small dealers from the neighborhood or from Holland seeking one small stone. But the difference is that in Hong Kong, there are hundreds of buyers like that. Consequently in Hong Kong, we more than cover our expenses, whereas here, not at all.” However, Michael Suchowolski of Mac Cutting Works, noted, “Even if some guests didn’t know how to hold a loupe, some Italian customers came to us and discovered with enthusiasm that, should they require so, on top of our recutting service, we could also take care of the certification process for them.”
The good news is that in its attempt to highlight Antwerp, a new international diamond and jewelry fair, CARAT+, is being organized at the Antwerp Expo by Filip Van Laere, CEO, Diamond Dreams@Work, and Dirk Blommaert, CEO, Diamond Consult bvba, both former HRD Antwerp employees. The event will be held later this year from May 7 through 9. Looking ahead, Schiappacasse noted, “We expect to be at the ADTF next year, but with the advent of CARAT+, we’ll have an opportunity to choose and we’ll be able to focus on the most promising one.” Jain concurred, “We’ve booked a booth at CARAT+ and, hopefully we’ll be able to have a better view of what horse to bet on.”
Within the framework of the ADTF, the World Diamond Mark (WDM) offered a preview of its “Part of You” retailer program. The presentation, entitled “Driving traffic to retailers – the World Diamond Mark Model,” was delivered by Ya’akov Almor, WDM communications director, and Krisztina Kalman-Schüler, WDM’s program director. “Our main target is to help the retailers to go the extra mile and sell their diamonds to the consumers. In order to do so, we use storytelling to keep uppermost in the minds of consumers the various reasons that underlie the purchasing of diamonds, reasons why each person is unique, as is every diamond. Nowadays, where the number of weddings is ceaselessly decreasing, we strive to remind them that there are many milestones in life where you can offer a diamond — anniversaries, births, for example. There are also many symbolic reasons why you would buy a diamond, such as a token of accomplishment,” Kalman-Schüler elaborated. Today, the WDM Authorised Diamond Dealer program can count on 234 members worldwide. Their partnership fees start at silver, for $300 a year, and go up to gold, at $1,500, with discounts for chains, and finally platinum, with a bespoke service package. WDM expects to welcome as many top retailers as possible. Negotiations have started with the 19 members of Antwerp’s Most Brilliant, a group of “officially certified jewelers” as designated by the Antwerp World Diamond Centre (AWDC). “As long as there will be women, we’ll sell them diamonds,” concluded one of the 19, Patrick de Landtsheer of Diamani Jewels.Article from the Rapaport Magazine - March 2017. To subscribe click here.
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