HD Group will be exhibiting at the CMJ Spring Trade Event, focusing very much on its new line, Hot Diamonds x Jac Jossa. The business hopes that this collaboration with an award-winning actress will result in a collection that will drive footfall to independent retail jewellers on the high street. HD Group’s Head of Commerce, Adryan Cresswell, tells us more about their plans for 2022 and beyond.

1. Can you give a brief background to the HD Group?  

HD Group is a UK company that designs and distributes its own jewellery brands, including Hot Diamonds, Emozioni and most recently Hot Diamonds x Jac Jossa. 

2. What do you believe sets you apart from your competitors?

Our USP is that we hand-set a real diamond in every design. This adds an element of preciousness to each jewel we produce and it provides a compelling point of difference. We are also known for the quality of our jewellery and packaging, honest value proposition and friendly, flexible customer services.  

3. How have the past 12 months been for your business?

We have been happy with trade over the last 12 months. This financial year, sales have been over budget in both our independent and national channels and Q4 (which for us is January to March) is looking particularly strong. In terms of challenges, supply chain issues have been quite problematic over the peak season and we expect this to continue at least throughout the first half of 2022.   

4. What plans do you have for your business in 2022?

We are hoping 2022 is going to be a successful year for HD Group. We have a new influencer collaboration, Hot Diamonds x Jac Jossa, that is showing real promise. We have trialled it in 10 independent jewellery stores over Christmas and sales to consumers have been far above our expectations and those of our retail partners.

It’s a new business model for the UK jewellery market, where an influencer with millions of followers generates awareness on her social platforms and drives footfall to the high street. It seems to be working very well. Assuming we can succeed in attaining quality coverage for this collection throughout 2022, whilst continuing to develop Hot Diamonds sales positively, it should be a strong year for us and our retail partners. That’s our focus.   

5. You will be exhibiting at the CMJ Spring Trade Event. What can retailers expect to see at the show?

It will be the first opportunity for most CMJ members to view the Hot Diamonds x Jac Jossa collaboration and to talk to us in detail about how the marketing model works. Those retailers that have seen the collection have been unanimously positive, and so we are excited to garner additional feedback.

In addition to this, we have new summer Hot Diamonds jewels and a new creative campaign which we look forward to showcasing at the CMJ event.    

6. Can you tell us more about your collaboration with actress Jac Jossa. How did this come about, how would you describe the collection, and what has the feedback been from retailers?

We wanted to develop a collection that would drive footfall to the high street and felt a collaboration with an influencer who has millions of followers would be a sensible way to approach this. Jac is perfect. She is an award-winning actress, winner of I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here and has 3.3 million followers on Instagram. When it became clear that Jac was also passionate about jewellery, and particularly gold jewellery, a collaboration became a no-brainer.

The design process was a joy and Jac was entirely engaged and influential throughout the project. We both loved the gold layering look and were very aligned in how we wanted to the collection to develop.

However, good sell-through to consumers should never be taken for granted. Initially, we trialled the collection on-line and were happy with the results. The next step was to trial the collection in ten stores of varying profiles. We did this throughout November and December 2021.

The results were surprisingly strong and repeat orders started coming through within days. Within six weeks replenishment orders had exceeded the initial sell-in value – a sure sign that the product is turning extremely well on the high street. Each of the ten trial stores is thrilled with the consumer reaction.            

7. What sorts of new retailer partners are you looking to work with?

Our trial jewellery partners varied from smaller, quality jewellers in market towns, to larger, prestigious jewellers in city centres. The consumer response was consistently strong throughout the ten stockists. To us, this indicates Hot Diamonds x Jac Jossa sells strongly across a broad spectrum of retail environments. This is important, as it enables us to develop a strong UK coverage with quality jewellers, whether in market towns or city centres. So we have flexibility – we just want to be sure each stockist loves the brand as much as we do!  

For more information on any of HD Group’s brands, contact Adryan Cresswell on adryan.cresswell@hdgroup.com or call 0118 975 3331 / 07595 220308. You can also see them at the CMJ Spring Trade Event on 13–14 March.