Our inaugural CMJ Awards ceremony took place in August 2026, with the aim of celebrating the innovation and excellence throughout our retailer and supplier membership.
Here, we take a closer look at the winner of the Digital Innovator award, CR Gems. The Digital Innovator award looked to celebrate cutting-edge use of technology and digital channels, recognising those suppliers who are redefining online retail, marketing or customer engagement.
Why did the judges choose CR Gems?
The judging panel voted for CR Gems as the worthy winner thanks to its introduction of a number of innovations that have sought to solve the inefficiency and lack of flexibility that retailers face when sourcing and presenting gemstones to their customers.
CR Gem’s main innovation in the past 12 months has been the launch of Showcase Mode. This feature enables retailers to switch the CR Gems website into a clean, client-facing view specifically designed for in-person appointments. In this mode, the full live inventory can be presented without any CR Gems branding, with optional pricing adjustments applied – allowing retailers to maintain full control of their client relationships without needing to carry physical stock.
Another key update, CR Gems’ new Wishlist feature, allows users to create multiple lists to organise jobs, manage projects, and curate tailored selections for clients. These can be shared instantly via fully unbranded emails, complete with detailed stone information and optional price markups.
Together, these tools streamline the sales process, improve organisation, and enable gemstones to be presented professionally and efficiently, bridging the gap between digital sourcing and the in-person sales experience in a way not offered elsewhere in the market.
The judges praised CR Gems for creating an innovative tool that genuinely makes life easier for its customers.
And CR Gems is not stopping there… A key development currently underway is its AI-powered “try-on” feature. This will allow users to digitally place gemstones onto a hand image, scaled accurately to size, giving a realistic view of how a stone would look when set in jewellery. Importantly, this tool can also be shared with their own clients, making it valuable not just for sourcing, but as a powerful sales aid throughout the entire purchasing journey. This creates a more interactive and engaging experience, helping customers make confident decisions remotely.
CR Gem’s long-term vision is to set the industry standard for modern gemstone sourcing. Its aim is to create a platform where remote sourcing is as accurate, efficient and trustworthy as visiting a showroom in person – effectively mirroring that experience digitally, while offering even greater flexibility and scalability for customers worldwide.
