How Blue Nile Inc. Is Changing the Jewelry Industry Blue Nile is a true e-commerce (SEC) which in 1999 launches an online marketplace where sells certified diamonds and fine Jewelry at lower than retails prices. Their products must be stored, shipped and physically delivered, therefore, one or more of the commerce processes (product, process, and delivery) takes place offline and they could be classified as a partial e-commerce.
Blue Nile is an e-marketplace owned and operated by the company itself and their type of selling is one-to-many; therefore, they are considered a private, sell-side, e-marketplace. The Diamond and Fine Jewelry Industry has significantly changed since launching the Blue Niles Webster. Blue Nile offers certified diamonds and fine jewelry at prices substantially below traditional retail with the highest quality and their true success is in result of well- organized SEC, which offers education, guidance and expertise opinion on all products via phone. Mail or life chat). Their online catalog with a variety of 70,000 round diamonds with customized options beats any physical store’s inventory and at the same time grooms save between $3,000 and $5,000 when proposing. Another reason for their success is the disintermediation where they eliminate the intermediary that operates between the seller and buyer. This way they provide direct service which speeds up the purchasing process and by eliminating the third party commission, hey decrease the operational cost.
Therefore, by using disintermediation, the Blue Niles private SEC can afford to sell their high quality products at substantially lower than brick-and-mortar retailers’ prices. For customers’ convenience, the Blue Niles electronic shopping card offers huge variety of payment methods: credit cards (Visa, Mastered, Diners Club, American Express, Discover, JOB or Carte Balance card); bank wire (arrange payment through a bank and receive a 1. % discount on orders of 750 or more) and other payment methods such as Blue Nile credit card or Papal. Their secure network guarantees safe payment, personal confidentiality and compliance with government regulations. According to Blue Niles website, Internet Retailer Magazine classifies Blue Nile “as bigger than the next three largest online jeweler’s combined”. Their 2012 annual revenue of $MM shows how much the company Is selling to customers and has reported +14. 95% revenue growth which Is above the market average for the year.
