Introduction

At the counter two almost equally sparkling rings can differ in price several times over. The buyer does not start with the term dual-shelf: they ask what size they can get for their budget, whether the origin story matters, whether the stone is appropriate as a gift, and whether the description can be trusted. From these questions, in one store, two related but different shelves take shape — natural and lab-grown. Dual-shelf here means the practice of a clear choice inside a shared category, not two legally isolated markets.

Open Russian data add an important contrast. In the Smart Diamonds survey of more than 3,000 people, 69% correctly said that the stones differ by origin, yet 29% explicitly do not understand the difference, and only 35% know the origin of their own stone. Only 46% can explain what a grown stone is. At the same time 48% consider price the main difference, 68% are ready to prefer the grown option — above all because of price — and 22% take a principled “natural only” position.

This is not a market-wide share: Smart Diamonds works with the grown-stone category, and audience composition and question wording affect the results. But the answers themselves show the logic of choice. A person may know a stone’s origin and still choose size, price or design. The market has to be read in several planes at once: through the survey, chain sales, assortment and labelling rules.

Method and sources

The material is assembled from publications by Sokolov, 585 Zolotoy, Smart Diamonds, trade press and regulatory documents. The Knot, BriteCo and De Beers give international, mainly US, context; their results cannot be transferred onto Russia.

Sales, deliveries and inventory are deliberately not collapsed into one figure. A share of a chain’s turnover, a share of new units and a share on the counter answer different questions. New percentages were not calculated; the words “about”, “up to” and “around” are kept where the source used them. Amounts are in nominal roubles.

What the Russian buyer knows

The picture of knowledge is uneven. 69% of those surveyed correctly name origin as an important difference, yet 29% do not understand the difference; 46% can explain what a grown stone is, and 35% of owners know the origin of their own stone. An answer on a form does not guarantee a confident choice at the counter. A clear tag, a normal comparison of characteristics and a conversation with a consultant without advertising substitutions are needed.

In the same array, 76% of buyers prefer offline. For a stone that is understandable: one wants to see the piece, judge how it sits and check that the description matches the object in hand. Online still remains part of the path. The product card and the consultant should speak the same terms — otherwise the buyer first reads one thing and in the store hears another.

Age motives also diverge. For boomers origin is critical for 73%; among zoomers, price, size and appearance more often lead. This does not mean that all young buyers are indifferent to origin or that older ones are insensitive to price. It is a description of the relative weight of motives in the published segmentation.

The “Reasonable luxury” survey in October 2025 (about 2,000 respondents) adds another layer. 85% saw in a grown stone a way to afford a larger size. At the same time 63% of women lean toward the natural option, but 78% of those same women are ready to welcome a gift with a larger grown stone. There is no logical contradiction in this combination: a personal ideal of origin and the appraisal of a gift on a fixed budget are different choice situations.

Price, size and the meaning of the piece

The public example from Kommersant and 585 Zolotoy shows well why the conversation so quickly hits the budget: a ring with a 0.5-carat grown stone — about 50 thousand roubles, with a natural one — about 200 thousand roubles. This is a specific offer, not a rule for every weight, cut, clarity or metal. But it is exactly such a gap that turns size into a visible benefit for the buyer, not an abstract technological discussion.

In March 2024 Sokolov reported that 57% were ready to choose a grown stone for price or “resource saving”. In practice this is a story about accessibility: lab-grown allows a design and size that would not fit the budget with a natural setting. But for some buyers origin enters the meaning of an expensive gift and does not reduce to a technical line in the specifications.

It is risky for a seller to promise an investment result where the subject is personal jewellery. Comparison should be built around identification, origin, design, piece parameters, price and service. It is unacceptable to turn “the same appearance” into the claim “the same product”: that erases the fact of origin, which for a noticeable part of buyers has meaning.

Signals from Russian retail

Chain data confirm growth but give different scales. Sokolov in Q1 2026 put the share of grown stones in sales of jewellery with settings at 25% against about 15% earlier. For 2025, sales of jewellery with such stones at the chain grew 2.6 times year on year, and the average ticket was about 54,242 roubles. That is an indicator of a particular chain and a particular product basket, not the size of the whole market.

585 Zolotoy reported for Q1 2026 a share of 6.9% against 2.4% before, that is growth of 2.9 times; interest in grown stones in 2025, on the chain’s report, grew 3.4 times. The gap between 25% and 6.9% need not be “averaged”: assortment, audience, method and the indicator’s denominator differ.

In trade reports a new mass delivery is estimated at 25–50% grown stones in units, while a shelf with already accumulated stock is up to about 5%. That is another reminder: the flow of deliveries and inventory live in different time. A high share of new units may first become visible in design and communication, not in the share of the whole display.

Rules from 01.09.2026

Context for the category is RF Government Decree No. 657 and the related clarification of terminology from 1 September 2026. The word “brilliant” is reserved for a natural stone. For the grown option another term must be used, for example “faceted synthetic diamond”, with synthetic origin marked on the tag. Presentation of carat weight or 4C characteristics in a way that can present a synthetic stone as natural is also restricted.

The practical meaning of the rules is to remove terminological uncertainty. For merchandising this means separate, equally clear cards and price tags; for training — a consultant’s ability to explain origin without replacing the conversation with a slogan. Before the rules take effect, future terminology cannot be issued as an already binding requirement; afterwards the old non-distinguishing lexicon cannot be kept.

ALROSA’s programme to promote natural diamonds to 2030 forms a parallel context for the natural segment. It does not refute the growth of lab-grown in the mass offer: marketing support of the natural category and growth of an accessible alternative can happen at the same time.

International dual-shelf

US data are useful as an indicator of directions, not as a Russian forecast. The Knot in its 2026 report states that 61% of engagement rings have a grown centre stone; growth relative to 2020 was 239%. BriteCo reports that in its data lab-grown exceeds 45% of engagements, and the average weight of a grown stone rose from 1.31 to 2.45 carats in 2019–2025.

At the same time De Beers names the natural diamond the most desired gift in the luxury category; average spend rose 25% to $4,063, and 75% of demand sits outside bridal. Zoomers account for 23% of demand value at 18% of population in this research contour. Among independent US sellers, grown stones are estimated at about 15% of value with growth in units and a fall in wholesale prices.

These series do not conflict. The Knot measures primarily the wedding unit; De Beers — desire, spend and a broader jewellery mission; the independent-seller estimate — value. Growth in units and noticeable size can coexist with the preservation of a value premium and the gift meaning of a natural stone.

Synthesis and discussion

Dual-shelf in a store is not a theory for a presentation. The buyer should understand in a minute why two outwardly close pieces cost differently and how their origin differs. For that, separate but equally informative tags, cards and consultation scripts are needed. Shared blurry lexicon hides the grown stone; the image of an unattainable symbol distances the natural from a real choice. Both extremes hinder the sale.

Russian data show two things at once. Knowledge of origin among buyers is still incomplete, and chains see fast growth of lab-grown, with very different shares: 25% at Sokolov and 6.9% at 585 Zolotoy. The difference need not be averaged: the chains have different assortment, client and denominator of the indicator. In some purchases the main argument will be size for fixed money, in others — origin, rarity and the meaning of a gift.

The question “who will win” is of little use to the buyer or the seller. For an engagement, a gift, a first piece with a setting and an expensive natural object, the buyer assembles different sets of benefits. Dual-shelf is not a physical partition, but an honest distinction of the product in documents, on the shelf and in conversation.

Scenarios and hypotheses

Limitations

Surveys are not equal to till data and may depend on wording. Chain indicators do not form a single representative panel of Russia. International wedding studies have a different purchase culture, incomes and terminology. The regulatory part needs checking against the official wording and practical clarifications on the date of application. The work is not a valuation of stones, a legal opinion or a recommendation on investments.

There are also several substantive limits on comparisons. The price of a ring with a stone is not composed of origin of the setting alone: weight, cut, colour, clarity, metal, design, presence of a certificate and the policy of a particular seller all affect the result. So the 0.5-carat example cannot be extended to all pieces even inside one chain. A fall or rise in wholesale prices for a separate category also does not, without markup data, allow a judgement of the retail price.

The word “interest” in a press release is not identical to an order, and year-on-year sales growth may reflect a low base, an expanded assortment or a change in accounting. We do not know from open statements what share of sales was made by new and repeat buyers, on what occasions jewellery was bought, and what part of the assortment was available only online. These gaps do not make the published signals useless, but they do not allow a precise forecast to be built from them.

Finally, natural origin, physical characteristics and perceived value are different properties. They may coincide in one person’s decision and diverge in another’s. Comparative communication should disclose these properties separately, not assume that one emotional argument automatically answers all of the buyer’s practical questions.

For later updates a single public observation card is especially useful: date, type of piece, channel, origin of the setting, price, average ticket and the share’s denominator. Such discipline does not replace representative statistics, but it allows assortment expansion to be distinguished from a shift in demand, and unit sales, revenue and inventory not to be mixed. It also makes comparison of chains, regions and periods clearer for the reader, editor, analyst and a future checker of sources.

Conclusions

The Russian category is growing with incomplete knowledge of origin: buyers know their own stone even more rarely than they distinguish the categories in general. Price and a larger visible size make the grown option a strong offer in a mass and gift purchase. Growth at Sokolov and 585 Zolotoy is confirmed; a common market share cannot be obtained from these statements.

From 01.09.2026 exact naming and labelling become part of the quality of the sale. A convenient model for the market is two transparent shelves inside one category. It takes into account that share in units, value, origin and the symbolic meaning of the piece do not measure the same thing.

FAQ

What can be called a brilliant from 1 September 2026? In the described regulatory contour the word refers to a natural stone; for a grown one a different wording that clearly marks synthetic origin is required.

Is a grown stone a “fake”? No. Exact identification of origin matters. Correct labelling does not mix grown and natural options.

Why do Sokolov and 585 Zolotoy figures differ so much? These are different chains, assortments and ways of counting. They cannot be added or a single market share derived from them.

Why does offline matter as digital trade grows? In the Smart Diamonds survey, 76% buy offline; in this category a personal inspection and consultation help in understanding origin and the piece.

Does growth of lab-grown mean natural stones will disappear? No. Open data describe different missions: accessible size and price coexist with a choice of origin and a luxury gift.

Bibliography

1. Smart Diamonds / 585 Zolotoy. Consumer surveys on grown diamonds; publications in Retail.ru and RIA Novosti.
2. Sokolov. Statements on sales of jewellery with grown stones; official site and Kommersant.
3. 585 Zolotoy. Retail statistics and an example of a price gap; 585zolotoy.ru.
4. Government of the Russian Federation. Decree No. 657; publication.pravo.gov.ru.
5. Federal Assay Chamber. Clarifications on accounting and labelling of precious metals, gemstones and jewellery; probpalata.gov.ru.
6. The Knot. 2026 Real Weddings Study; theknotww.com.
7. BriteCo. 2025 Engagement Ring Trends; brite.co.
8. De Beers Group. Consumer studies and materials on natural diamonds; debeersgroup.com.
9. Rossiyskiy yuvelir. Trade chronicle of deliveries and labelling; uvelir.info.