In addition to its overhead, Blue Nile has a second advantage, at least over smaller jewelers. It bought roughly $170 million worth of diamonds last year, giving it the purchasing power to sometimes sell its diamonds at a cost below the wholesale price available to smaller stores. can buy diamonds cheaper from Blue Nile than you can from most brick-and-mortar stores, including “You mine,” said Jerry Robbins, the chief executive of Robbins Diamonds, a five-store chain in the greater Philadelphia area. their big disadvantage is that customers cannot see the diamonds, they cannot touch “But them and they cannot compare them side by side.” For now, diamond rings account for 70 percent of Blue Nile’s sales, and other diamond purchases diamond — post earrings, for instance account for an additional 20 percent. The mark-up on designer jewelry as well — — as on pearls and stones like sapphires and emeralds still exceeds 50 percent, according to Jewelers — of America. But diamonds serve as the financial backbone for jewelers nationwide, and while some have tried to match Internet prices, many still refuse to compete on that basis. attitude is, prices are higher but we “Their ‘Our provide you services, and we’ll hold your hand, and we’ll wrap it up all pretty and such,’ Mr. Gassman said. ” Will that work? think it’s relevant that we have seen an acceleration in the closure of specialty jewelers in recent months,” he “I replied. Correction: January 14, 2007 An article last Sunday about Blue Nile, an online diamond jewelry company, referred incorrectly to its relative standing among companies that sell the most diamond rings in the United States each year. Although jewelers do not provide comparable statistics about diamond-ring sales, Blue Nile does indeed rank behind Tiffany & Company. It also ranks behind at least one other competitor, the Signet Group, which operates Kay Jewelers. The article also referred incorrectly to Mondera.com, another online jeweler. It is still in business; it is not defunct. And the article misspelled the city where the Zale Corporation, the jewelry retailer, has its headquarters. It is Irving, Tex., not Irvine.
In addition to its overhead, Blue Nile has a second advantage, at least over smaller jewelers. It bought roughly $170 million worth of diamonds last year, giving it the purchasing power to sometimes sell its diamonds at a cost below the wholesale price available to smaller stores. “You can buy diamonds cheaper from Blue Nile than you can from most brick-and-mortar stores, including mine,” said Jerry Robbins, the chief executive of Robbins Diamonds, a five-store chain in the greater Philadelphia area. “But their big disadvantage is that customers cannot see the diamonds, they cannot touch them and they cannot compare them side by side.” For now, diamond rings account for 70 percent of Blue Nile’s sales, and other diamond purchases — diamond post earrings, for instance — account for an additional 20 percent. The mark-up on designer jewelry — as well as on pearls and stones like sapphires and emeralds — still exceeds 50 percent, according to Jewelers of America. But diamonds serve as the financial backbone for jewelers nationwide, and while some have tried to match Internet prices, many still refuse to compete on that basis. “Their attitude is, ‘Our prices are higher but we provide you services, and we’ll hold your hand, and we’ll wrap it up all pretty and such,’ ” Mr. Gassman said. Will that work? “I think it’s relevant that we have seen an acceleration in the closure of specialty jewelers in recent months,” he replied. Correction: January 14, 2007 An article last Sunday about Blue Nile, an online diamond jewelry company, referred incorrectly to its relative standing among companies that sell the most diamond rings in the United States each year. Although jewelers do not provide comparable statistics about diamond-ring sales, Blue Nile does indeed rank behind Tiffany & Company. It also ranks behind at least one other competitor, the Signet Group, which operates Kay Jewelers. The article also referred incorrectly to Mondera.com, another online jeweler. It is still in business; it is not defunct. And the article misspelled the city where the Zale Corporation, the jewelry retailer, has its headquarters. It is Irving, Tex., not Irvine.
Blue%20Nile%20Diamonds.docx