Signet to Sell More Lab Growns
January 22, 25
(IDEX Online) - Signet's new CEO has blamed assortment gaps during the crucial 10 days before Christmas for the company's sluggish holiday performance.
"Gaps in our assortment in those key gifting price points for fashion and self -purchase really put us at a disadvantage to being able to serve that customer demand," said J.K. Symancyk (pictured), who was addressing the ICR Conference in Florida, USA.
He went on to say that lab growns would have better meet the needs of some customers, especially those spending under $1,000 or $500 and indicated they'd become a bigger part of its offering.
"The way the customer shops that category has changed and within our assortment there is an opportunity for us to amplify lab created diamonds more in that space.
"Lab created diamonds for us were up 30 per cent in fashion. Coming out of the third quarter that accelerated to northof 40 per cent, and unlike maybe the way that this dialogue happens in regards to engagement that's a really good thing because it's it really does help push AUR (Average Unit Retail) up and expands margin.
"What we saw is desire for bolder fashion in those gifting price points, and some of those stories, be they gold or lab -created diamonds, we were under-allocated relative to our assortment, and that gap really represents an opportunity for us to grow.
Signet started selling lab-grown diamonds in May 2019 through James Allen, its e-commerce platform, and said last June that they now account for a "low-teens" percentage of the diamonds it sells.