Forevermark tests retail playbook in India’s diamond battleground

When De Beers Brands’ CEO Sandrine Conseiller compares a natural diamond to a Picasso painting, she is not reaching for poetic flourish. She is drawing a commercial line in the sand.

“When you have a Picasso and a copy of a Picasso, they both don't have the same price or same value either. It's exactly the same (with lab-grown diamonds and natural diamonds),” she tells Campaign. “So, they (Indians) are price sensitive consumers, and will need to decide very clearly what they want to buy. Our job is to make sure they know what they are buying.”

That emphasis on distinction now sits at the centre of De Beers Group’s strategy in India. Forevermark, its diamond jewellery brand, has opened a 5,000-square-foot flagship store in Mumbai’s Khar suburb, making it the largest Forevermark store globally.

The opening marks the brand’s fifth store in India and coincides with the launch of its latest campaign, My Guiding Light. Together, the moves underline a strategic shift away from wholesale-led distribution towards brand-owned retail in a market that De Beers increasingly views as structurally important rather than opportunistic.

Regulation, timing and India’s growing weight

The Mumbai launch arrives alongside regulatory changes that directly affect how diamonds are defined and sold. On 1 January 2026, the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) notified new diamond standards aligned with global practices, stating that the term ‘diamond’ will apply only to natural diamonds. Laboratory-grown alternatives must now be disclosed as ‘laboratory-grown diamond’ (LBD) or ‘laboratory-created diamond’.

The move coincides with India assuming the chair of the Kimberley Process in 2026 and reflects the country’s growing influence in the global diamond ecosystem. India is the fastest-growing diamond market in the world, with demand growing 11% last year. It also cuts and polishes nine out of every ten diamonds globally, according to the Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC).

For De Beers, the stakes are high. The group reported a 23% year-on-year revenue decline to $3.3 billion in 2024, driven by a 25% drop in rough diamond sales to $2.7 billion amid slowing demand, particularly in China. Against that backdrop, India has emerged as a counterbalance.

Shweta Harit, CEO of Forevermark and global senior vice president at De Beers Group, points out that India overtook China earlier this year to become the world’s second-largest market for natural diamonds. GJEPC projects domestic diamond demand to grow from $8.7 billion in 2024 to $17 billion by 2030, forming roughly one-tenth of India’s $85 billion gem and jewellery sector.  

Price pressure and parallel categories

Growth, however, is unfolding alongside structural pressure. Prices of LGD have declined by 70–90% globally, making value comparisons unavoidable for Indian consumers who are becoming increasingly price-conscious.

Conseiller remains matter-of-fact about the divergence. LGD, she argues, behave like technology products—manufactured at scale, with unlimited supply and declining prices. Natural diamonds, by contrast, derive value from scarcity, provenance and the energy-intensive process of formation.

The BIS ruling, she told Campaign, reinforces transparency at a critical moment. In a market where diamond buying is still evolving, regulatory clarity helps consumers make informed choices. The contrast with the US is stark: around 70% of jewellery sold there contains diamonds, compared with just 8–9% penetration in India.

One reason is gold’s dominance. Gold jewellery carries deep cultural, religious and financial significance and remains the default choice for many Indian households. Its accessibility has only increased, with even quick-commerce platforms now offering gold products.

Forevermark’s research indicates that while gold is frequently gifted and stored, it is worn less often. Diamonds, by contrast, are increasingly associated with autonomy and self-purchase, particularly among working women.

This behavioural insight underpins My Guiding Light, Forevermark’s campaign supporting its Icon collection. Featuring designer Masaba Gupta, actor Diana Penty, Princess Gauravi Kumari and Olympian Manu Bhaker, the campaign focuses on women who have carved individual paths across fashion, cinema, entrepreneurship and sport.

“The brand positioning is a very personalised positioning,” Harit told Campaign. “So our campaign signature is ‘This one's for me’, leaning into personal milestones versus only the ones that society sees and acknowledges.”

Rather than leaning on traditional gifting narratives, the campaign frames jewellery as an inward-looking decision, rooted in personal conviction rather than external validation. This reflects a broader shift in luxury communication, from aspiration defined by status to meaning defined by self-expression.

Retail lessons, revisited

Forevermark’s current retail strategy builds on experience gained from its earlier shop-in-shop model, which began in 2011 through partnerships with Indian jewellers before being discontinued. While that approach helped establish early market presence, it also limited control over storytelling and customer experience.

“When you entered another retailer like Malabar Gold & Diamonds, you’d find the Forevermark shop-in-shop,” Harit recalls. “Now we’re building a different model where you have Forevermark on the door, hence, we built a brand campaign rather than just sticking to collections.”

Key learnings from that phase include the importance of authentication, traceability and transparency. Forevermark highlights its end-to-end narrative, from exploration to creation to retail, as well as the unique inscription number on each stone. “We also learned what collections, price points and designs work, and will continue to have international designs,” Harit adds. Those learnings are now shaping store design, merchandising discipline and price architecture as Forevermark expands its footprint.

The retail reset is unfolding alongside a stronger push into digital and assisted commerce. High-value online purchases are becoming more common, changing how jewellery brands think about conversion and trust. Especially when one can buy gold coins on quick-commerce platforms!

“Today, when you think about e-commerce, it's always an omni-channel approach,” Harit says. Larger purchases, she notes, often involve assisted sales, requiring seamless coordination between online platforms and physical stores. This is essential since its average ticket-size of a sale is around INR 1.5 lakh.

Data plays a central role in this strategy. “We will build a strong CRM,” Harit says, pointing to the Mumbai flagship’s event spaces as part of a broader effort to build community and repeat engagement. “Data is going to be used in every way possible to shape out.” The approach mirrors familiar retail media dynamics: linking content, commerce and customer insight in categories historically driven by infrequent, milestone-led purchases.

India as a retail testbed

India is also the first market where De Beers is rolling out the Forevermark standalone format at scale. The brand currently operates four stores and plans to expand to 20–25 by the end of 2026, with a long-term ambition of 100 stores by 2030 and $100 million in revenue.

The company expects India’s natural diamond category to grow 10–12% annually, supported by wedding demand and rising self-purchase by working women. Tier-2 cities such as Ludhiana, Indore and Bhopal are emerging as growth engines, aided by rising incomes and e-commerce reach.

“We've always said that India will be our pilot model,” Harit says. While walk-ins, conversions and store economics will be closely tracked, she emphasises that confidence in the model will take time. “I think it will take us three or four years to be really confident that there is a business model here that works, and then we will look at global expansion.”

Left to right: Actor Diana Penty, Olympian Manu Bhaker, De Beers Brands’ CEO Sandrine Conseiller, Shweta Harit, CEO of Forevermark and global senior vice president at De Beers Group with designer Masaba Gupta and Princess Gauravi Kumari.

This India-first focus aligns with De Beers Group’s broader ‘Origins’ strategy, which reset its downstream businesses. De Beers Jewellers was repositioned as a high-jewellery maison, while Forevermark was refocused on fast-growing markets, with India at the centre.

From Conseiller’s perspective, success will not be judged on short-term sales alone. “Branded jewellery is developing very fast globally,” she says. Jewellery, long fragmented and unbranded, is now seeing double-digit growth in branded offerings.

India’s expanding middle class—now comparable in size to Europe—adds structural momentum. “The natural diamond market in India has been growing double digit for the past four years,” she notes. “Our job is just to make sure consumers know the difference.”

As Forevermark scales its retail presence and sharpens its narrative, the challenge will be sustaining differentiation in a crowded, price-sensitive market. The Mumbai flagship is a signal of intent, but its real test lies in whether the format can be replicated at scale, by balancing education with aspiration, and heritage with contemporary relevance.

After all, clear positioning and control of experience matter as much as reach. Whether that will meaningfully shift diamond-buying behaviour in India remains open, but De Beers is now prepared to test that proposition, one store at a time.