According to Grand View Research, the jewelry market’s revenue in 2025 is 480.5 billion dollars, growing at a compound annual growth rate of 8.1% from 2021 to 2025. Despite its remarkable size, the industry is highly fragmented because players are mostly small and independent jewelers. As the jewelry market is increasingly driven by customer needs for personalization and the growth of e-commerce, traditional players are challenged by the inventory heavy model and an outdated retail experience.
Brilliant Earth is a digital first, innovative disruptor in the jewelry market with ethically sourced diamonds and gemstones. Beth Gerstein founded the company from her personal struggle of finding an engagement ring that aligns with her ethical values. Thus, Brilliant Earth is one of the first to commit to cultivating a more sustainable and compassionate industry that creates positive social impacts while forever transforming customer experience.
The jewelry giant offers a joyful and meaningful shopping experience thanks to many competitive advantages. First, it produces unique and exclusive products, expertly crafted to meet the needs of millennial and Gen Z consumers. The Create Your Own model allows customers to customize their jewelry to reflect their individuality. Moreover, there is a vast collection of natural and lab-grown diamonds going through exclusive standards of sourcing and quality. McKinsey estimates that 20 to 30% of global fine jewelry purchases worth 100 billion dollars in 2025 will be influenced by sustainability considerations. As an environmental, social and governance leader in its core mission, Brilliant Earth saves millions of dollars compared to its competitors who have to switch strategy midway.
Second, Brilliant Earth cultivates an exceptional omnichannel customer experience. The company strives to optimize all channels including the website, mobile-first digital platforms and in-store shops. The digital platform offers dynamic visualization and a streamlined customer journey while in-store shops provide personalized appointments with a specialist. This helps Brilliant Earth foster lasting emotional connections with customers across all channels. Thus, over 62% of purchases come from word of mouth referrals. A purpose built storytelling approach gains it over 9.1 million monthly Pinterest viewers, 2.1 million Facebook followers and over 700,000 Instagram followers.
Third, Brilliant Earth owns superior data-driven technology. The company is among the first retail jewelers to offer blockchain diamonds at scale with more than 10,000 blockchain-enabled diamonds, which has defined next generation traceability standards in the jewelry industry. Data from 16 years of experience can also generate insights that can personalize over 100,000 diamonds available in the virtual inventory. This massive database allows constant innovation of customer experience, marketing and operational efficiencies, showroom strategies and product development.
In the third quarter of 2021, net sales increased 33.3% Year over Year, reaching 96.2 million dollars compared to 71.4 million dollars in the third quarter of 2020. Gross profit was 48 million dollars with a 50.4% margin. Brilliant Earth derives a large portion of its revenue from the bridal category, which is also among the most resilient categories in the jewelry industry. In the U.S., 2.3 million couples wed every year, 94% of which exchange wedding rings and 86% of the rings feature diamonds. Revenue growth is likely to remain robust with secular tailwinds such as an increasing preference for branded fine jewelry. According to McKinsey, branded fine jewelry will grow at a compound annual growth rate of 12% from 2021 to 2025.
Looking forward, Brilliant Earth is poised to maintain its leading position in the industry, while still having plenty of room for expansion. As millennials and Gen Z’s spending power neared 3 trillion dollars in 2020 and 31% of fine jewelry sales were online, the company with its unique sustainable strategy and e-commerce presence will continue to disrupt the industry.
