Secrets shhh
A member of my family recently bought a piece of jewellery at a store called Secrets shhh, a new franchised retailer with stores all around Australia. The business offers cubic zirconium jewels (diamond simulants) in quality settings at a fraction of the cost of real diamond jewellery but I think they have a large marketing problem.
Although there are good savings to be made, it smacks of compromise at a time when people want to demonstrate a commitment. Most of us are stupid enough to believe that this means spending more than we can really afford.
A jewellery purchase is usually a symbol of love or commitment. These sorts of decisions are made in the limbic system of the brain. Rational decisions like saving money and notions of societal norms reside in the neocortex. For most people, a business proposition like the Secrets shhh one is going to cause cognitive dissonance. Equals purchase resistance.
It’s kind of the opposite to what you try to do in marketing. You want to align your business proposition with what the customers already believe. Then you try to inextricably link your brand name with the proposition.
Normal consumer purchase behaviour is to show off when you score a bargain. People are subconsciously seeking respect and relationship with others by offering someone what they perceive to be valuable information. “I have valuable knowledge. I am clever. I am willing to share my knowledge with you”.
Probably the best example of this in recent times is the eBay story. Initially some highly sought-after goods (mostly electronic goods) were sold very cheaply and “word-of-mouse” did the rest.
Word-of-mouth is critical. Secrets shhh do not have this working in their favour. An important component in word-of-mouth is making yourself look good. Few women will tell their friends about this store. If their husband funded the purchase they would make their husband look bad. If they funded it themselves they are proud of the bargain and they devalue their cleverness by making the bargain more common. Their closest friends may be told. Maybe.
After my relative and I discussed the purchase and the concept of the store I asked her if she would tell anyone about the store. “No,” she said. “No way.”
It’s an interesting case study. I think they’ve got it wrong. I don’t think that anymore, having read the comments. Thanks commenters for fascinating input.
I don’t think that’s the case Rebecca. I obviously have a Secrets ring (25th anniversary)and just found out last week that my niece does too (after seeing it for 3 years!) Our rings don’t look ‘glassy’ they sparkle like diamonds. Mine was examined by a jeweller who considers himself an expert at picking ‘fakes’, and his comment was along the lines of making sure I have damned good insurance because my 1.3ct central diamond is a beauty! As Secrets go, my ring was expensive at $900 AUD, but the design is amazing and is 2 rings tension set together with a channel of 7 smaller diamonds down one side. I have had it cleaned once in 2 years, and it still sparkles like new. Zircons tend to go cloudy/foggy after a while, like glass.
And the 8.5 strength is still enough to accidently cut a wine glass when washing up!
I have a Secrets ring and had it cleaned at a jewellery store because I couldn’t get down to Secrets and as I was leaving he very loudly said “you do know it’s a cubic zirconia don’t you?” Well luckily for my boyfriend who got it for, me I did know, but the whole store didn’t need to know!!!! Also it came with a lifetime guarantee to never discolour or lose its brilliance (whatever that’s supposed to mean) and this week I noticed some small scuffs and a huge scratch on my 1.5ct stone so I rushed to Secrets with my lifetime guarantee and was told that it only guarantees the brilliance inside the stone!!! Well what the hell is the use of that? My stone is not brilliant!!! It looks like a piece of glass with scratches all over it!!!
But I was told that I could send my ring in to get the stone replaced for $40 yes that’s right $40!!!!!! So in conclusion my ring seems to be worth at most $55
I would be only too glad to tell people to stay away from this store!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I was thinking about the real versus fake issue and remembered what a jeweller freind of mine who was also a opal miner told me . “If you think about how many diamonds are mined and worn by the women of the world in all their shapes and sizes especilly as symbols of commitment and everlasting love the sheer quantity does not make them rare at all and really they are as common as many other semi prescious stones, it is only the diamond cartels that keep the prices high. I had to have a diamond replaced in a real diamond ring a liitle while ago and the actually cost of the diamond (0.14K G S1) was onky $46.00 the actual cost of the labour was 63.95 so if I times the(the amount of stones in my ring) 18×46=$828.00 plus the gold which = $467 + making $450 final total $1745 the ring cost me $3250.00inc GST which makes a profit of at least $1180.00 to the jeweller. I guess what I am trying to say if you think about how much a real diamonds should really be worth and what it takes to bring them to us (the suffering of those in 3rd world countries) I have opted for the Secrets way this time around. I wont feel ripped off by the cartels and I know noone has died or suffered to bring it to me.
I bought a pave band in July which I had resized smaller for free a process which took 4-6 weeks. The first day I wore it a stone fell out which is apparently not uncommon with this design if it is resized. The company took it back to fix it and apologised. Fixing the ring was supposed to take 4-6 weeks but at the end of this i got a call to say the Master jeweller was not happy with it and that he recommends a total remake which would take another 4-6 weeks. I was pretty dissappointed and said so. I was then offered a pair of diamond studs to ease the dissappointment. I gratefully accepted and they arrived the by post next day! 2 weeks later my ring was remade and I am delighted with it. At every point of contact the staff treated me politely and aknowledged the inconvenience to me that had come from the faulty ring. Very impressed despite the initial delay in wearing the ring. People comment that the ring is pretty. No one has asked if it is real.
@karen
These stones are definitely cubic zirconia – the hardness is a good charactertistic to look at – and CZ has a hardness of 8.5. If it was diamond it would have a hardness of 10.
It is possible to make diamond in the lab – with the same chemical makeup as natural diamond – but I understand to make a gem quality diamond it is actually more expensive than a mined diamond – the diamond mining/marketing companies would be sure to control the price so they wouldn’t loose their market!
I have recently been looking at diamond rings for engagement. Looked at a lot of diamonds, and then went into the Secrets shop. I was told that the stones were actually diamonds, and I couldn’t understand why they didn’t have the same fire as the diamonds I was looking at earlier. I put it down to my glasses I’d just bought. I felt a bit silly after doing a bit more research.
If they were real diamonds made in a lab, I don’t think I’d have an issue buying and telling (I was looking with my finacee), but some of the details (ring design, quality of the cut) looked a bit cheap to me.
I have several rings and ear rings from Secrets – have had some of them for over 7 years and they still look stunning. I have yet to have anyone tell the difference between the Secrets jewellery and the real thing – I wear a combination of both most of the time. I love their products – and could never afford the equivalent in the ‘real’ thing. Every chance I get I show off my jewellery and people comment on them all the time.
i’ve had a very different experience to those mentioned above, although I suppose a lot depends on the person who serves you on the day. I’ve bought 4 Secrets peices over the years – two rings, a pendant and a tennis bracelet and they have never lost a stone or been damaged, although like all jewellery I treat it with respect. The store I we got them from always cleans them for free and they didn’t say they were diamonds, I was told they are made in a lab using ‘zircononium’ -?? There’s lot of info on the website about how they are made. At first I kept mine a secret, but after a few months of getting so many compliments (especially friends who would say ‘I wish my husband would buy me diamonds like yours’) that I decided I was being fake by caring whether people knew or not, and so I started to tell people, and now many of my friends now shop there too. I reckon we should be loud and proud about it….at least we know no poor African communities have been destroyed in mining them, and we can have 10 rings for the price it would cost to buy one diamond ring! That’s something to sing about in my books!!!!! I don’t care if it was made in the ground or a lab, as long as they look good!
I have had such pleasure from my pave ring (see entry Dec 20) however on anzac day this year I lost a stone from it. I’d like to have it repaired but fear that it will just keep happening. Alot of prople commented on my ring and I love having it. Admitted it was fake if people admired it,and I didn’t wear the ring all the time. Feel sad it lost a stone. Anybody got any advice re a safe design to buy.
Sorry to hear! Sounds like you’ve had two losses. Maybe best to go back to the store; they’ll probably be sympathetic. Incidentally, I don’t think of the zirconiums as ‘fakes’. They’re an example of human engineering brilliance.