De Beers Group Auctions has appointed Alastair Bickerstaff (pictured) as the head of product and sales.

The new role, which was created following the departure of the head of sales and customer relations management, combines two elements of the business—product development and sales.

De Beers currently sells about 10% of its production through its online auctions and its Singapore-based auction department, which was previously known as Diamdel. In 2013, De Beers bought a 25% stake in online auction provider Curtis Fitch.

Bickerstaff started working with De Beers Group as a trainee diamond valuer in London 15 years ago. He has also worked in the rough sorting valuing departments in London, Botswana, Belgium, and South Africa. He has spent much of his career valuing large stones and was also a technical manager at De Beers’ global sightholder sales department.

“The time spent with polishing factory managers has given me great learnings and insight into the importance of building rough diamond products which are relevant and reactive to our customer’s needs,” Bickerstaff said in a statement. “This isn’t necessarily an easy task to achieve on the scale that we sell and the size of our customer base, however, we have a few new solutions to help us which we will be rolling out soon.”

Bickerstaff has been with the auctions department since 2016. He initially joined as production manager, eventually moving up to the role of head of production.

In the same statement, James Kirby, senior vice president of auctions, said, “Digital transformation is underway in many industries to further enhance sales models, build stronger connections with customers and optimizing production.… [C]ustomers can expect us to introduce more product- and service-oriented solutions in the very near future where we put technology to great use to better address their needs quicker than before.”

(Image courtesy of De Beers)

Rob Bates

JCK News Director