Walmart: 30% of Fashion and Bridal now Lab Grown
December 05, 23
(IDEX Online) - Walmart has announced a huge expansion of its lab grown offering which will see them account for 30 per cent of the diamond fashion and bridal jewelry sold across its 2,800 US stores.
Walmart is the second biggest-grossing jeweler in North America (after Signet) with total watch and jewelry sales of $3.38bn in 2022. Its lab grown sales have increased 600 percent year-on-year.
It launched a core collection last year and has now expanded it to 80 styles in stores across wedding, rings, bracelets, necklaces, and earrings priced from $78 to $698 for a 1.5-carat solitaire lab-grown diamond ring set in 10-karat gold,
That price compares to around $5,800 for the same style made with natural diamonds, said Michelle Gill, Walmart's vice president of jewelry and accessories.
"We are no strangers at Walmart to saving money for our customers," she said. "And this is a wonderful way that we can introduce a much higher-quality diamond at a much lower retail price as compared to mined (diamonds).
"We've seen overall in the industry a decline in mined diamonds, so we're reacting to both the trend in the industry as well as the trends that we're seeing in our customer base."
Pic courtesy Walmart of lab grown earrings