Jewelers Focus on Digital at Inhorgenta

RAPAPORT... The digital transformation of the jewelry businesswas a major theme at Inhorgenta Munich, with jewelers speaking of the need toadapt to increased online retail sales. "One of the key challengesfaced by the industry is to win younger target groups without losing theregular clientele," said Gesa Michahelles, managing director for the Germany,Austria and Switzerland region at designer brand Georg Jensen. "This can beachieved by a clever combination of offline and online offers." At the February 16 to 19 show, German jewelers privately voiced concerns that majordigital retailers such as Amazon could erode their turnover, and said theywould need to upgrade their online retail presence to survive in afast-changing market. Demand for diamond jewelry is expected toremain fairly stable in Germany in 2018, Stephan Lindner, president of Germany's Federal Association of Jewellers, told Rapaport News. A stronger euro against the USdollar made dollar-denominated diamonds cheaper for German jewelers andmanufacturers restocking supplies, and jewelerswould pass on cost savings from cheaper sourcing to customers whereverpossible, he explained. Jewelry and watch sales in Germany wereestimated to be up 0.5% to $5.79 billion (EUR 4.7 billion) in 2017, Lindner continued. The show saw a 4% rise in exhibitor numberscompared to the 2017 event, and some 27,000 trade visitors from more than 70countries, organizers said.