The Modern couple is looking for authentic and affordable diamond and gold wedding rings. Often times, they feel they will have to sacrifice one in order to get the other. However, this is not the case!

As the modern jeweler for the modern couple, we understand that your hard earned savings are going towards building your future together. With four generations of expertise in the diamond and jewelry industry, and through the elimination of industry middlemen, we are able to provide our couples with authentic diamonds that are beautiful, and affordable which are set in 10K or 14K gold.

Sounds too good to be true? Well, it’s not!

We know what you’re thinking! Who are the industry middlemen, and why do they increase the price of wedding rings so drastically?

To help us explain the role of jewelry industry middlemen, it is important to understand who the middlemen are, and the supply chain of your diamond and gold wedding rings.

WHOLESALERS: The middlemen who buy inventory in bulk from crafting floors and then “re-organize” the inventory they purchased to be curated for different retail stores. Wholesalers will sell directly to retailers or brokers who buy on behalf of a retailer.

The wholesaler will then sell it to one or more wholesalers before reaching a diamond polisher.

NOTE: So far, the diamond has passed through at least 4 hands before ever reaching the stage of being polished. So far the ring has increased in price by 20-160%.

Once the diamond is polished, it can go to another one or more diamond wholesalers before reaching a jewelry manufacturer.

MANUFACTURERS: The middlemen who polish the diamonds and craft the rings. They will interact with wholesalers or brokers to sell their products.

Then, the jewelry manufacturer will sell to a wholesaler, who then sells to multiple wholesalers before getting to a retailer.

RETAIL STORE: The final destination that couples interact with to purchase their diamond wedding rings. The store itself holds a large amount of inventory requiring a capital investment. This creates a costly in-store experience as those expenses are added onto the final price tag of the end consumer. Often times, additional markups are applied to the rings by retail store solely for the sake of discounting; this is referred to as “marking up to mark down.”

NOTE: By now, the diamond has passed through at least 8 hands once having reached the retailer. Now, the ring has increased by 40-360%.

This is a very typical supply chain model for traditional wedding ring creation, going from one hand to another, also known as the Middlemen. What makes this process so expensive for the end consumer is that through the hands of each of the pass off, the middleman marks up the piece between 5%-40%. Passing through a minimum of eight hands, your ring can be marked up by the bare minimum of 40% before even getting in the hands of the final retailer. Finally in the hands of the retailer, the ring is marked up 2.5x to 4x, depending on the brands price point.

A middleman that is often overlooked or hidden in between each pass between manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers is the brokers. A broker is one who steps in between all of the wholesalers and manufacturers who facilitate the trading from one hand to another, at which point they collect their commission. Brokers do not hold a stock of inventory, however they do charge a markup on goods simply for “connecting” a crafting floor or wholesaler to a retailer.

Joining his family as a fourth generation working in the diamond and jewelry industry, the CEO of My Trio Rings, Vipul Lakhi, he observed the time consuming, and costly process of simply receiving a diamond as a wholesaler or retailer. Knowing there had to be a better, more efficient way to provide couples with diamonds that weren’t marked up with each passing of the hands, he recognized that the middlemen were not essential to this equation, and wanted to eliminate these interaction for My trio Rings!

By removing middlemen and connecting the crafting floors to the customers doors, he was able to offer a wide variety of options for couple to choose from of authentic and affordable diamond engagement rings and wedding bands, eliminating the 40-360% markup that rings incur through each passing of hands in the supply chain of a traditional retailer.

As the modern jeweler, we know that retailers base their pricing models off a number of factors including brand name, reputation, and middlemen costs.

Learn about the 4 C's to know when shopping for diamond jewelry.