Tuesday, February 27, 2007
The Blue Nile Story - Buying Diamonds Online, Anyone?
The Blue Nile Story - Buying Diamonds Online, Anyone?
By now, most anyone who has purchased a diamond ring offline or online would have heard the exotic name Blue Nile. If you happen one of the minority who has not, Blue Nile was one of the pioneers that started retailing diamonds, and more specifically diamond rings and jewelry, online.
Read an interesting account of how the site and company Blue Nile came about.
Way back in 1995, Doug Williams, a Seattle jeweller, got hooked on to the Net and created a basic web site that sold jewelry. Who would have thought that someone would purchase a 3,000 $ worth diamond ring online? But people did, and his online business grew to around a quarter million dollars a month in about four years, with practically no advertising budget and a bare-bones site.
Enter Mark Vadon. in 1998, Vadon, a recent Stanford MBA graduate and working then at Bain & Co was trying to shop for a diamond ring at Tiffany's and had a rather forgettable experience, partly he felt because he was not dressed right - T-shirt & shorts. Frustrated, he went online for advice, found Williams' site that offered useful advice and suggestions on diamond ring purchase - info on size, shape, imperfections and so on. He also found from the catalog at the site a diamond ring nearly identical to the one at Tiffany's but at almost half the price. He bought it.
The next time he was in Seattle a few weeks later, Vadon visited Williams site out of interest and was asking general questions when he figured that Williams had been selling a quarter million worth diamond rings from his rudimentary web site, with no ad costs!
The story goes that Mark Vadon took a call quickly and offered to buy 85% of Williams' site for 5 million $, which was accepted. The site was renamed Blue Nile, and then of course we all know the story.
By now, most anyone who has purchased a diamond ring offline or online would have heard the exotic name Blue Nile. If you happen one of the minority who has not, Blue Nile was one of the pioneers that started retailing diamonds, and more specifically diamond rings and jewelry, online.
Read an interesting account of how the site and company Blue Nile came about.
Way back in 1995, Doug Williams, a Seattle jeweller, got hooked on to the Net and created a basic web site that sold jewelry. Who would have thought that someone would purchase a 3,000 $ worth diamond ring online? But people did, and his online business grew to around a quarter million dollars a month in about four years, with practically no advertising budget and a bare-bones site.
Enter Mark Vadon. in 1998, Vadon, a recent Stanford MBA graduate and working then at Bain & Co was trying to shop for a diamond ring at Tiffany's and had a rather forgettable experience, partly he felt because he was not dressed right - T-shirt & shorts. Frustrated, he went online for advice, found Williams' site that offered useful advice and suggestions on diamond ring purchase - info on size, shape, imperfections and so on. He also found from the catalog at the site a diamond ring nearly identical to the one at Tiffany's but at almost half the price. He bought it.
The next time he was in Seattle a few weeks later, Vadon visited Williams site out of interest and was asking general questions when he figured that Williams had been selling a quarter million worth diamond rings from his rudimentary web site, with no ad costs!
The story goes that Mark Vadon took a call quickly and offered to buy 85% of Williams' site for 5 million $, which was accepted. The site was renamed Blue Nile, and then of course we all know the story.
Labels: diamonds, gems, jewelry
