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Old World, New Tech: Europeans Show More Openness To Lab-Grown Diamonds Than Americans April 26, 2021 (0 comments)
Austin, TX—MVI Marketing LLC (The MVEye) has completed its 2021 Western European Lab-Grown Diamond Consumer Market Research Report, titled New Tech Meets Old World. The report is the result of a comprehensive, quantitative online study with consumers in France, Germany, Spain, Italy, and the United Kingdom. Image: Lab-grown diamond jewelry by Loyale.
1530 respondents (just over 300 per country) completed the study, which establishes a baseline measurement for consumer acceptance and awareness of the lab-grown diamond category in key European consumer markets and provides an opportunity for THE MVEye to track historical progression in subsequent studies.
Additionally, this research makes statistical comparisons between consumers in Western Europe and the United States, based on earlier studies conducted by THE MVEye in the U.S. market, and finds that by and large, despite the European jewelry market's reputation for being tradition-bound, consumers there are surprisingly more open to lab-grown diamonds than Americans.
Marty Hurwitz, CEO of THE MVEye, has been tracking the development of lab-grown diamonds since 2004. He said, “Before beginning this study, we knew there was growing awareness of lab-grown diamonds in the European market. But we did not expect the dramatic level of awareness that the research results point out. Younger European consumers who responded to this study articulated a strong interest in seeing the lab-grown diamond category expand. Compared to their American counterparts of similar age, they are more engaged in social issues, as well as how businesses address environmental, social and governance issues."
Not only is awareness high for LGDs in these Western European countries, but so is acceptance, with 41% of European consumers reporting they have either purchased or received LGD jewelry before taking the survey, a full 9% higher than comparable American respondents.
Key findings revealed in the report include:
- Consumers from France, Italy, Germany, Spain and Great Britain expressed strong awareness for Lab-Grown Diamonds (LGDs), with 77% of consumers reporting they were aware of the product before taking the survey. This is just slightly less than the 80% of U.S. consumers reporting knowledge of the product prior to the survey.
- By individual country, the highest awareness and acceptance of LGDs was among consumers in Italy (86%). Italians are the least skeptical and showed the most enthusiasm for the product, with over 28% overwhelmingly positive about LGDs and more than half wanted more information.
- Consumers would be interested in wearing lab-grown diamonds because of the reduced costs, their identical properties to mined diamonds, and as a sustainable, greener choice. These statements resonated the most with 26% of the European consumers.
- Nearly a quarter of the European consumers also liked that LGDs can come with a grading certificate, and the opportunity to acquire a 30% larger stone with an LGD for the same price as a smaller mined diamond.
- The data also reveals more awareness among men (80%) then women (73%) in the European study.
- Buying fine jewellery for social status appears to mean more to European consumers than American, 17% versus 7%.
- More German consumers (35%) are inspired to self-purchase fine jewellery to match an outfit than shoppers in the other four countries, with Spain a close second (31%), and the Brits least moved by this reason (17%).
- Italians (56%) are most inspired to buy jewelry for themselves “just because,” with the French (21%) least motivated among the five countries to self-purchase jewellery for no reason.
European consumer attitudes toward lab-grown diamonds, left, compared with Americans', right, in two MVEye studies.
The full New Tech Meets Old World- Lab-Grown Diamonds Awareness and Acceptance in Western Europe report is available for download here.