Q. In a recent article you list technology as one of the greatest threats to our industry. Can you please explain this surprising statement?
Technology is not the problem. In fact, I clearly acknowledge in the article that tech has brought remarkable innovations in diamond cutting, grading, and supply chain transparency. These tools have elevated the industry, and we should welcome them.
The threat arises when technology is used in ways that undermine the values and integrity of our trade. Not all innovation is inherently positive. Some tech platforms, especially those backed by aggressive VC funding, are employing loss-leading and monopolistic strategies that erode trust, eliminate relationships, and strip away the unique value of natural diamonds.
As an industry rooted in human expertise, craftsmanship, and long-term relationships, we must ensure technology is used to enhance these skills rather than turning to commoditisation of our product which has never been successful. If we don’t actively shape the role tech plays, it will shape us in ways that are not aligned with our long-term health.
It’s not the anonymous listing platforms which are harming the trade, it’s the players that are utilising it. We can’t control tech or disruptor businesses, but we can control our business and how and if we decide to engage with these new innovations.
Q. Can you explain how so-called anonymous listing platforms are harming the trade?
These platforms present themselves as innovative, but they are deeply damaging to the ecosystem. They don’t foster relationships, they eliminate them by working in between the buyer and seller, as anonymous brokers. They reduce a diamond; a rare, luxury product with the most incredible story, to a commodity sorted by price, eliminating all the nuance, knowledge, and service or value that professional diamantaires offer.
They enable unqualified sellers to enter the market too, selling products they don’t understand, purely based on certificates and pricing algorithms. This not only cheapens the category but erodes trust in the product itself. There’s no education, no client guidance, and no added value, just a race to the bottom.
This is not innovation for the benefit of the trade. It is innovation for the benefit of the platform, at the cost of the industry’s soul.
There are the more traditional diamond trading platforms that encourage human connection, allowing users to find the diamond they are looking for while connecting buyers directly with the owners. Rapnet, Idexonline and Get-Diamonds, to name a few, come with their own problems but at least they serve to create human connections, the chance to build relationships and add value to natural diamonds.
Some of my Bourse members initially raised concerns to me about these anonymous listing platforms. They feel they’re being forced to compete against businesses that are willing to lose money just to grab market share, businesses that don’t need to be profitable, because they’re chasing scale and domination. That’s not a sustainable playing field, and, more importantly the product loses value.
As an industry, we’ve spent years discussing the importance of value you can add, of building trust and storytelling around natural diamonds. In more recent years we have been worrying about weakening prices and blaming external factors, global economic shifts or the actions or opinions of a single individual. I believe we need to start by looking at ourselves, our responsibilities, and the weakening effect our participation in these anonymous listing platforms is having on the natural diamond category.
What many people overlook is the significant value diamantaires contribute to the diamond trade, often for ridiculously slim margins. Despite earning only a meagre return on the service and added value they provide, their role is essential to the natural diamond pipeline. Without a mechanism to protect our Bourse members and responsible traders at large, these platforms risk putting them out of business and devaluing natural diamonds further as a result. As President of the London Diamond Bourse, it is my duty to try and protect our members, as well as the wider industry ecosystem. I expect my colleagues at other bourses may feel similarly. My call is for a discussion on how we can mitigate threats caused by future tech and AI advancements collectively, as an industry.
We want to be at the forefront of innovation, but in doing so, we must also demand accountability, responsibility and alignment with the values of our industry. And that starts with all of us.
Q. Is the threat only to smaller players – traders and independent dealers?
No, smaller players feel it first, but the threat affects everyone. These are the people who hold stock, offer personal service, and carry real business risk. But larger manufacturers are also caught in a trap.
Many of the world’s leading Diamond Manufacturers spend millions every year on trade shows, sales teams, and building local offices globally. However, they feel pressured to list on these platforms for fear of losing a sale. Here’s the irony; if a retail store owner searches for a diamond on a listing platform, and finds one listed anonymously by a diamond manufacturer, that diamond manufacturer’s local sales team loses out on building a human connection with the store owner, something which is a priority and could have potentially led to more sales down the line. Additionally, diamond manufacturers are likely also competing against long term clients of theirs, those that they rely on to buy in bulk and add value locally through service, the local wholesalers, diamantaires and Bourse Members.
This is how diamond manufacturers compete against themselves while driving the value of their products down.
It’s a self-defeating cycle, leave it unchecked, and everyone loses.
Q. Are you seeing a trend whereby longstanding businesses are shutting down due to competition from anonymous platforms?
Yes, I believe it’s subtle. People attribute it solely to economic downturns, but it could be argued that these platforms are accelerating the decline.
As we search for ways to rebuild and add value to the trade, we must be honest about what’s hurting it. These platforms don’t create connections, loyalty, or long-term growth. They extract value without adding it, many would argue that the consolidated shipping makes it all worthwhile. I would argue that it’s a very short-term view. If we want the trade to recover, we must actively remove forces that devalue natural diamonds, and replace them with tools that build value: human connection, collaboration, education, and expertise.
Q. Are buyers preferring listing platforms over long-term relationships with diamantaires?
Some buyers are being misled into believing all diamonds are the same and that buying the cheapest one is all that matters. This goes all the way down to the consumer. If I may paraphrase my colleague at the London Diamond Bourse Howard Levene: It all started with online jewellers, and then was passed down into the wholesale market, but it completely ignores what luxury is about. Luxury isn’t just about cost, it’s about context, aspiration and storytelling. Diamantaires bring knowledge, nuance, and personal service. They add value, not just product. Once buyers understand that no two natural diamonds are truly alike and that real value is built on trust and expertise the lowest price is no longer the goal. The best client outcome becomes the goal.
Platforms can’t deliver that. People can.
Q. Is it possible that the fact that the industry is changing is a good thing?
Yes, but only if the change is in the right direction.
Change should elevate our trade, not dismantle it. The industry must evolve, but that evolution must preserve value, not remove it. If someone enters the market with a business model that strips the product of its worth to benefit their platform and disguises that as progress, we should be bold enough to call it out.
True innovation should respect the product, the people, and the purpose of the natural diamond trade.
Q. You call for setting clear parameters around the use of digital platforms. What do you propose as a solution?
We can’t stop tech or innovation, nor should we want to. Innovation allows us to strive for progress; it’s up to us which innovations we choose to utilise. There are numerous solutions, but the best ones will come via ongoing discussions in the trade which include accountability and responsibility, not just for the tech platforms themselves, but also for the industry stakeholders who choose to use and support them.
Most of us in the trade are responsible people who want to protect and grow our businesses. This is about empowering the majority to stand up for the health and longevity of the industry, making sure we collectively shape our future, before a small few damage it beyond repair.
