Bédos to Lead Birks & Mayors

Jean-Christophe Bédos

Jean-Christophe Bédos, the former head of the international jewelry house, Boucheron, has been named Birks & Mayors president & CEO. He will replace Thomas A. Andruskevich who announced in September 2011 that he would be leaving the company in the spring.

Bédos, who is already on the job, will spend his first three months with the company as its chief operating officer, reporting jointly to Andruskevich and Lorenzo Rossi di Montelera, chairman of the Board, to allow for a smooth transition. Bédos will assume the role of the company’s president and CEO on April 1. Birks & Mayors is a luxury jewelry retailer with 61 stores in Canada and the United States. Its headquarters is in Montreal.

“His experience as president of one of the world’s most prestigious luxury brands and his extensive knowledge of the luxury jewelry and timepiece industry will be key assets for Birks & Mayors as it continues the development of the Birks product brand and pursues international expansion,” Montelera, said.

Bédos was president and CEO of the Parisian luxury jewelry house, Boucheron Intl., from May 2004 till June 2011. In addition, to maintaining and enhancing the strong presence of the brand, he was an early adapter to marketing the brand and selling its well-crafted luxury products online, as he explained in 2010 during a panel discussion during the FT Business of Luxury Summit.

Previously, he was the managing director of Cartier France from 2002 to 2004, and international executive manager alongside the president of Richemont Intl. from 2000 to 2002. Bédos started his career in the jewelry industry at Cartier in 1988. He holds a Master of Science in Management from the London Business School, a LLB in International Law from Université Paris I Sorbonne, a BA (Honors) in European Business from Trent University, Nottingham and a Bachelor of Arts, European Business, from Toulouse Business School. Bédos will be based at the company’s head office in Montreal, Canada.

GIA Offers iPad Apps for Consumers and Jewelers

It’s a new year and the Gemological Institute of America—the education, laboratory and research organization that invented the 4Cs—has iPad apps that are designed to enhance the jewelry and gemstone buying and selling experience for consumers and retailers.

GIA’s newest app is just for retailers and designed to use at the point-of-sale (top image). It provides interactive 4Cs education that retailers can show consumers, guidance on using GIA grading scales, information on diamond treatments and access to GIA grading reports. Follow this link to learn how to download the app.

An iPad app for consumers was introduced in November and provides in depth 4Cs education, how to read a diamond grading report and information on various diamond treatments.

Final Results: Holiday Online Spending Hits a Record $37.2 billion

Retail e-commerce spending for the November – December 2011 holiday season (November 1 - December 31) increased 15 percent, year-over-year, to $37.2 billion, an all-time record for the season, according to comScore, a company that measures digital data and provides digital business analytics.

Ten individual spending days surpassed $1 billion in sales, as compared to just one day reaching that mark in 2010, the Reston, Va.-based company said. Cyber Monday (the Monday after Thanksgiving Day, November 28) ranked as the heaviest online spending day of the year at $1.25 billion, the second consecutive year it has ranked first for the season. The second heaviest spending day was Monday, December 5 at $1.17 billion, followed by Monday, December 12 at $1.13 billion. Tuesday, November 29 ($1.11 billion) and Tuesday, December 6 ($1.10 billion).

With the relative newness and growing acceptance of digital e-commerce, it’s common for online sales to exceed the prior year’s results. However, the 2011 holiday season was exceptional by any standard.

“With brick-and-mortar holiday retail estimated to have grown about 4 percent this year, it’s clear that e-commerce continues to gain market share from traditional retail due to the attractiveness of the Internet’s convenience and lower prices,” said Gian Fulgoni, comScore chairman. “Consumers were especially attracted to the deals and discounts available through digital channels—particularly free shipping, which occurred on well over half of transactions this season. Despite their continuing price sensitivity, consumers felt a bit more comfortable opening up their wallets this year, although this appears to have occurred as a result of a decline in the savings rate. Nonetheless, it’s clear that, at least on the basis of top line growth, this was a Merry Christmas for many online retailers. What will remain unknown until retailers report their financial year end results is whether the aggressive pricing and free shipping offers came at the cost of lower margins.”

Ring Sets Guinness Record with 2,500 Diamonds

Photo credit: Shrenuj & Co.

A famed Ukraine luxury jewelry house has made it into the Guinness Book of World Records for creating a ring with more than 2,500 diamonds.

Known as the “Tsarevna Swan,” the tall, highly stylized 18k white gold ring is set with 2,525 diamonds, according to Guinness. It was created by the Lobortas Classic Jewelry House of Kiev, Ukraine, and was presented and measured on July 21, 2011.

Lobortas has set the price of the ring at $1.3 million, according to published reports.

The diamonds range from 0.001-0.05 carats with a total weight of 10.48 carats. All of the diamonds are of G color and range from VVS2 to VS1 in clarity. The diamonds were supplied by Shrenuj Group, a diamond and diamond jewelry manufacturer based in Mumbai, India.

The design and development of the ring took 530 hours and fabrication took 3,625 hours, according to published reports. The ring is currently being shown in Keiv.

Ice Unveils ‘Try It On’ Mobile App

Online jewelry retailer Ice hops onto the augmented reality (AR) bandwagon with a mobile app that allows shoppers to virtually “try on” rings and bracelets before purchasing. It is currently only available for iPhones while an Android version of the app will be available later this year.

AR is a live direct or indirect view of a physical, real-world environment whose elements are augmented by computer-generated sensory input. In this case Ice is using the technology via a mobile app to provide digital shoppers the opportunity to view the Ice catalog of jewelry products, select an item of their liking and opt to virtually "try on" the piece. Utilizing their personal mobile device camera, a picture of the shoppers hand will act as the landscape for the ring or bracelet of interest. The desired piece of jewelry can then be super imposed on the picture. Ice shoppers will be invited to then share their “try it on” pictures with friends and family via email, Facebook and Twitter, or add to their wish list.

“It's about enhancing our customer's experience, customer engagement with our products as well as overall conversion. For the first time, we are offering our customers with the complete shopping experience,” said Shmuel Gniwisch, CEO of Ice. “No longer will online shoppers have to question "will this look good on me?" they will have the answer right on their smartphone desktop and be able to ask their family and friend's thoughts from around the globe with just a few clicks.”

You can find the app by following this link.