Consumers Aware of Grading Importance But Confused About Labs, Survey Finds

Only 13 percent of American consumers would not accept a diamond if its lab was unfamiliar to them, a recent study commissioned by the World Gemological Institute (WGI) found. The other 87 percent said they would accept a report as legitimate even if they were not familiar with the lab, or they were unsure whether they would accept it.

The consumer research study, conducted with the Jewelry Consumer Opinion Council (JCOC), explored topics such as consumer awareness of the existing diamond grading labs, the perceived necessity of reports to accompany diamond purchases and willingness on the part of consumers to accept grading reports from unfamiliar laboratories.

“The findings are very important for us in formulating our U.S. marketing strategy,” Eli Avidar, managing director of the Israel Diamond Institute Group of Companies said. “The American consumer has a very high awareness of diamond grading, and knows exactly what he or she wants when buying a diamond. The U.S. is the largest market for Israeli diamonds and as such plays a very important role in WGI’s business decisions,” he added.

“There were several interesting findings,” said Liz Chatelain, president of MVI and JCOC. “Although consumer awareness of the importance of grading reports was very strong…and there seemed to be a somewhat strong awareness of the larger established labs such as AGS, GIA, and IGI, the consumer respondents also seemed to display a confusion about the various labs and a difficulty in telling them apart.”

“One topic we wanted to test the truth of was the widely-held retailer belief that consumers will only accept diamond grading reports from laboratories they are familiar with,” said Chatelain. The research findings seem to dispel that belief.

 “We believe that those that stated they were unsure could be convinced of the legitimacy of a report with simple informational materials and quick over-the-counter education about the lab in question,” Chatelain added.

WGI says it plans to continue analyzing the results from their research so that it can share more helpful information from the study with retailers and others in the industry.