Reclaiming global leadership for a legacy jewellery manufacturer by escaping the efficient vendor trap
With the jewelery category being disrupted on all three fronts of materials, channels, and consumers, KBS hit a stagnation curve. This work reset the company’s direction and outlined how it wins in the new market reality
COMPANY OVERVIEW
KBS is a long-standing jewellery manufacturing partner to major U.S. retailers, known for design-led manufacturing, strong retailer relationships, and the ability to build for white spaces.
It's a partner to the entire spectrum of retailers - big box, boutiques, independents, luxury and online, as it optimises for retailer needs and excels in execution
I mapped the disruption landscape, analysing shifts in materials, channels, consumer attitudes, using category data, retailer insights, and market scanning to define the new rules of the jewellery business
Conducted 30+ stakeholder interviews across India and the U.S. (leadership, sales, designers, retailers) to understand the blindspots in KBS’ operating model and identify unmet needs across the value chain
Analysed competitor trajectories through Porter's five forces model, identifying why brands like Jewelex, UniDesign, and GoldStar were accelerating faster.
Helped in synthesising KBS’ internal values, instincts, and historic growth levers to identify what should evolve and what must remain core.
Contributed in building the strategic argument and defined the opportunity space by mapping unmet retailer needs, emerging consumer expectations, and capability gaps within KBS
OUTCOME
A defined growth platform was created, centred on consumer intelligence + design innovation + craftsmanship
A roadmap for new competencies: predictive insights, agile NPD, cross-pollinated teams, and expanded channel strategies.
Enabled structural change inside KBS, leading to the creation of new functional teams designed to operationalise these capabilities and capture the identified opportunities.
A new, differentiated brand identity was developed that expressed the strategic direction (KBS 2.0) and was implemented across key touchpoints to signal the company’s shift toward a future-ready, consumer-centric organisation
THE BUSINESS CHALLENGE
Over the last few years, the diamond industry experienced disruption across the three axes of material, channels and consumers.
Retailers were unsure how to build profits through top-line growth. They were looking to make profits by scraping from the bottomline and KBS was getting trapped in the net of cost efficiencies and asset management demanded by retailers.
KBS needed to escape the efficiency chasing retailers and prove their industry leadership by establishing how they were a valuable partner to retailers
MY ROLE
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Write to me at saldanharussell@gmail.com