China Paradigm interviewed Nicolas Jouvenceau, the founder at Pink Diamonds Boutique, a private diamond dealer in China, to learn the difference between the diamond market in China and Western countries.
Nicolas Jouvenceau, a veteran engineer and an experienced diamond dealer in China
Nicolas Jouvenceau was major in energy and environment engineering during his undergraduate studies at the National Institute of Applied Sciences of Lyon in France. After spending a semester studying in China, Nicolas fell in love with this country and decided to work here after graduation.
At the very beginning of his career, Nicolas worked as an engineer at Shanghai Aldes Indoor Air Technology for a couple of years. Later on, he shifted to the music industry as the General Manager at Warwick Music Equipment and ran the company for eight years.
Holding a childhood passion for collecting minerals and gemstones, he decided to become a professional specialist in the diamond market in China and earned a Graduate Gemologist diploma from the Gemological Institute of America. With more and more people coming to him for advice on picking gems in China, Nicolas sniffed out business opportunities in the diamond market in China. In 2008, he founded Pink Diamonds Boutique in Shanghai and gradually developed his company into one of the most prestigious diamond dealers in China.
Pink Diamonds Boutique: Every colored gem in China is unique
As a fervent collector of gemstones, Nicolas decided to embark his entrepreneurship in the diamond market in China in 2008. A professional diamond cutter opened the magic door of colored gems in China for Nicolas. After realizing that colored diamonds were still unknown to Chinese people, Nicolas decided to bring these rare gems in China and founded Pink Diamonds Boutique to become a professional diamond dealer there.
Unlike other big players in the diamond market in China, Pink Diamonds Boutique specializes in selling colored gems that are quite rare. According to Nicolas, only one out of 100,000 diamonds has color, and even 80% of those are yellow. Therefore, it is hard for big diamond dealers in China to equip every shop with rare-colored gems.
“We are very boutique and focus on these concrete stones, so it is easier for us to find unique and special gems in China.”
Other than selling gems, Pink Diamonds Boutique also provides service of designing custom jewelry in China and education about gems. One important differentiation Pink Diamonds Boutique has from other diamond dealers in China is that it brings a completely different experience to its clients. When customers come to the store, they don’t just purchase diamonds, but also learn the legend story behind these rare gems in China.
“The customers will understand how special this gem is and what makes it unique,” Nicolas explained, “They will feel the unique experience of building their own custom jewelry.”
The difference between the diamond market in China and Western countries
From Nicolas’ perspective, because of the unique diamond culture in China and much bigger purchasing power of Chinese consumers, the diamond market overtakes the one in the West.
The Western diamond market started from positioning diamonds as a necessity for weddings and engagements, while the diamond culture in China is a completely different story. Chinese embrace this culture of owning a piece of untouched and unmodified gem as a tangible asset that will grow in the future for their families and themselves. Moreover, they are not afraid to show off too much wealth by wearing gems.
“Today, the diamond market in China is very developed, compared to the one of the West. Chinese are more aware of colored gems and start to realize that they are a good investment.”
How to leverage your business with networking in China
When Nicolas started his business, he barely had any experience in the diamond market in China and was mostly relying on networking through WeChat. He started to connect and meet as many people as possible to enlarge his networking in China. The company also posted content relevant to gems in China on WeChat to promote its products.
Moreover, Nicolas also joined the Entrepreneurship Organization (EO) to drive his business by networking in China. According to him, one of the reasons he stayed at EO was that he was able to benefit a lot from this solid network of entrepreneurs in China.
“I have a very strong belief in useful networking in China,” said Nicolas, “Today, I am networking by being useful to others. I help whoever is in my network because I believe this value I brought to others will come back to me someday.”
Listen to China Paradigm in iTunes
