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New York, NY—Last week, The Centurion Newsletter covered predictions of macro-economic trends from J. Walter Thompson and Trendwatching.com. This week, we narrow in closer to home, with some key predictions by analyst and diamantaire Martin Rapaport, and luxury digital marketing expert L2 ThinkTank.

In this excerpt from his annual New Year greeting letter, here are some key trends Rapaport sees:

• 2012 was a year of great change, challenge and development. The idea that American economic power had lost significance proved wrong as the boom in China, India and Pacific Rim fell flat and strong U.S. demand saved the diamond and jewelry trade. President Obama’s re-election is a clear sign that a generational shift is taking place. New priorities and values will dominate the political, social, and economic landscape. Youth, women and minorities will have increasing say about what happens. The Arab spring, protests in India, and a changing government in China are all signs of new values and the power of the people to demand change. The jewelry trade must learn to excite and serve a much more diversified and segmented customer base. Our traditional and conservative industry must adopt new values and adapt to new customers. Our emotional products must be in sync with a new generation of emotional values.
• As we head over the fiscal cliff we must recognize our need for financial responsibility. Even a wealthy country like America cannot live beyond its means. The same holds true for our trade. Bank credit that enables firms to buy diamonds at unsustainable, artificially high prices must be stopped. Legitimate firms have no business manipulating prices. Buyers should just say no to high prices. The real value of diamonds must be based on real money from real buyers.
• The New Year will bring unprecedented opportunities. There will be huge unlimited amounts of new customers looking for diamonds and jewelry at fair affordable prices. Those that identify and meet the desires of the many differentiated segments of the market will do extremely well, just like President Obama did in the election. The Obama campaign identified different segments such as youth, women, Hispanics, etc., and customized his campaign to and for them. There are riches in the niches.
• The emerging middle class demographics in India, China, and the Pacific Rim are huge and unstoppable. While there may be a few bumps in the road, steadily improving demand from these markets will support the diamond industry. Economic and currency uncertainty will also increase demand for higher quality investment diamonds as wealthy consumers seek alternative stores of value.
• Get to know yourself better as well. What are your strengths? How exactly do you add value? What is the cost benefit of your added value?  Be brutally honest with yourself and don’t be afraid to reinvent yourself. Most importantly, accept the fact that the world around you is changing. Recognize that people will always desire diamonds and jewelry, and position yourself to meet that desire.

Separately, L2 ThinkTank, the New York-based luxury digital markting firm, has released a video detailing its eight key predictions for 2013. You can watch the video here, but to summarize, they are:

1. Amazon is positioning itself to take bigger and bigger bites out of the prestige market.
2. In-store purchases will be influenced more by mobile devices than sales associates.
3. More than one in five e-commerce sales will come from a tablet device.
4. E-commerce is the growth opportunity, over brick and mortar.
5. Social media managers will begin to be replaced by data scientists.
6. Asia Pacific continues to grow in global commerce importance.
7. Offline and online will blur. It won’t matter what channel the consumer shops, as long as they buy from you.
8. The social landscape will shift, with some sites (Twitter, Foursquare) losing relevance and others (YouTube, Instagram) gaining relevance. Facebook remains a “must” and Pinterest remains the new “It Girl.”