Lightbox, De Beers’ lab-grown diamond brand, is selling its wares for the first time at brick-and-mortar stores.
The brand’s long-awaited first retail trial will start Oct. 21 at Bloomingdale’s stores in New York City and San Francisco, as well as 30 Reeds Jewelers stores, primarily in the Southeast.
Up until now, the diamonds, which are available in blue, pink, and white, in 1 ct. sizes and under, were sold only on the brand’s website.
The Lightbox lab-growns will be sold as part of a freestanding unit in the retailers’ fashion jewelry section, says chief marketing officer Sally Morrison. The stores will also sell the brand on their e-commerce platforms.
“It was important to us to find partners that understand the positioning of the brand, why it needed to be sold in this way at this price point, but also had a history of very strong training, since we feel [our diamonds] need to be sold very transparently,” says Morrison. “It will also be a great opportunity for us to talk to consumers. It is very much new territory for us. Sometimes consumers are surprising.”
The brick-and-mortar rollout coincides with a new out-of-home and digital ad campaign (pictured).
The new Lightbox ads are “very inclusive and showcase a broad range of women,” says Morrison. “They feel fresh and joyful and exuberant.”
The brand also will keep up its relatively unique strategy—at least for a jewelry company—of advertising on podcasts, with a “robust” buy this fall, Morrison says.
All Lightbox lab-grown diamonds are sold for $800 a carat, which includes total weight pieces.
Earlier this year, Lightbox announced it would begin shipping to Canada. It’s also experimented with pop-up stores in New York City and Los Angeles.
Its Gresham, Ore., factory, set to produce some 200,000 carats of diamonds a year, is still on track to open in 2020, Morrison says.
(Image courtesy of Lightbox Jewelry)
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