For a while people have been forwarding me emails from jewelerawareness@gmail.com, which says it lists suppliers selling to e-commerce platforms like bluenile.

The person behind the list, who goes by the name “Mr. Jewelerawareness,” is a third generation retail jeweler. He has 2,000 jewelers on his email list, which began in February. Apparently several vendors have heard from their customers after they were included on the list.

Mr. Jewelerawareness says the list is compiled by “cross-referencing diamond certificates,” and what he describes as “tedious” research.

“Mr. Jewelerawareness” explained his rationale behind the list:

The fact that there now exists diamond e-tailers is accepted by brick & mortar retailers. What is not acceptable is the sales tax disadvantage brick & mortar retailers remain in, because government laws have not kept pace with new technologies …

People are not born with an inherent need for diamonds. This desire has been cultured en masse though decades of consistent advertising.  Yes, e-tailers advertise. However, they advertise to a clientele which has already a need for a diamond. Their advertising is designed to be the first one inline when the customer goes online, past that most e-tailers’ advertising budgets cease. Without the ground work laid by thousands of brick & mortar jewelers across America that customer may never have even googled “anniversary ring” in the first place, but more likely “HDTV” or “Caribbean Cruise”.

It is for these reasons that I share my voice with the thousands of other brick & mortar retailers around the world ….

There are numerous wholesalers out there who remain loyal to brick & mortar retailers. They should be proud of this and know that there are retailers out there now looking to form business relationships with them.

Putting on my blogger hat here, and with all due respect to Mr. Jewelerawareness, I have pretty mixed feelings about this. Jewelers have to focus on what value they can offer that e-tailers don’t, and, while lists like these – which have been talked about over the years — let people express their fustrations, they don’t really improve anyone’s competitive position. In the end, these sites aren’t going away. (And, let’s face it, if you eliminated every company that sold to an e-tailer, you would be crossing off a lot of names.)

In any case, anyone that wants to get in touch with Mr. Jeweler Awareness  can write “jewelerawareness@gmail.com.”

Rob Bates

JCK News Director