Abstract:

The measurement of acquisition of jewellery containing new diamonds by consumers in the major jewellery markets worldwide forms a key part of the monitoring process undertaken by the CSO in order to plan the flow of rough diamonds from the producers into the diamond pipeline. The Diamond Acquisition Study is the centrally co-ordinated annual survey whose key objective is to measure the level of recent acquisition among consumers. This paper discusses all aspects of survey design and execution, focussing on the practical constraints to total comparability of survey methods across markets, the approach we take to oversampling recent acquirers of diamond jewellery and the interviewing problems associated with the accurate measurement of a sensitive, emotion-linked, high priced item. The final section illustrates how the results from the Diamond Acquisition Study are used within the CSO.