Barron’s says Toronto-based Harry Winston has been working hard at getting its diamonds into the hands of celebrities who have been showing them off at the Super Bowl and Academy Awards; however, the real growth is overseas:
China is now the second-largest retail market for diamonds, behind the U.S. and just ahead of Japan. Harry Winston is the rare company that cites the number of billionaires by region as a material factor in customer demand. It’s all but stamped on executives’ hands that China has the most billionaires of any country outside the U.S.
While fourth-quarter 2010 sales were up powerfully from the depressed levels across the world in the previous year’s fourth quarter, de Narp pointedly noted that the 56% gain in European revenue was principally driven by Russian, Middle Eastern and Asian customers shopping in its European locations. It wasn’t Europe’s Old Guard.
Michael Allan McCrae wrote this story. You can contact him at [email protected] or @michaelmccrae.