De Beers ventures into selling diamonds online

Diamond jewellery giant De Beers has put its toe in the water of transactional online retailing for the first time.

The retailer already has sites geared for its Japanese, UK and US markets but these points of presence did not allow viewers to purchase goods. All three of these sites now allow customers to buy diamond jewellery online.

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Products on offer include the retailer's bridal range and its Tallisman Collection.

The site engine is provided by ecommerce specialist Venda and allows customers to view highly detailed images of its products. Site visitors can rotate images or zoom in and out to get a clear view of the product they are interested in buying.

Visitors can search through the jewellery ranges on offer by product, price, gold colour and carat.

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In a statement, De Beers marketing director Neal Sussman acknowledged the leap the retailer is taking in making the site transactional.

He said: "Whilst we have previously had an online presence, we fully anticipate that the De Beers site will enable us to achieve our two main aims: generate revenue online and increase footfall in our retail locations."