The best book about the diamond industry can now be found online.
As it suggests, buying diamonds for oneself has always been seen as unusual, and for some time I have been playing with the following analogy:
People spend on luxury (and diamonds) in the same way they gamble or frequent a bar. I am not absolutely sure, I can bet that the major difference in behaviour between serial addictive gamblers and gamblers who gamble for fun is that addictive gambling is a solitary behaviour; the gambler does not interact with the social surrounding and he is even hostile to people around him.
On the other hand, mentally healthy gamblers need people around them as they want to share their success or presentation of power — the fact that they can burn excess money — with the people around them.
Spending on diamonds is very important and the one who spends wants to select the social environment carefully. Thatâs why people spend on their official wives or wives-to-be but not on women with whom they have a short term liaison.
Self purchase, therefore, presents a challenge for the buyer: how to define the social environment that will appreciate this spending. We might see women who buy for themselves, sometimes with their husbandsâ money, but they can be appreciated for their spending by the right person. However, single women or women who feel that they are not appreciated fully might not spend on diamonds.
If we can persuade women that diamonds will always be appreciated, we might see an increase in self purchase.
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