In this Q&A, DTC Daily speaks to Alexander Weindling and Ryan Bonifacino, co-founders of Great Heights. The company, a new luxury jewellery brand focused on lab grown diamonds, is a digital first business aiming to make the diamond buying process more transparent. Here, the two co-founders explain why the time was right to launch Great Heights, their typical consumer, and their plans for growth.

Why did you decide to launch Great Heights, and why did you choose a digital-first model?

Ryan Bonifacino: Frankly, the modern consumer is shopping online now more than ever. The digital-first model of Great Heights allows us to access more consumers immediately than if we started with a brick and mortar strategy. Our services far exceed the experience in the store - we eliminate the intimidation of the jewellery counter while providing an unprecedented level of customisation in lab-grown diamonds and bespoke engagement ring creation. In stores, you can only buy what’s there, but our algorithms work through every attribute that you can for a diamond, like carat from cut, colour, and clarity to match our consumer with their perfect stone for their budget. We’ve also integrated advanced CGI technology to show dynamic 360-degree views of the customisation process to simulate exactly what they would see in stores. 

How has your and your co-founder's previous experience helped establish the company?

Ryan Bonifacino: Great Heights combines my direct to consumer expertise (Alex and Ani, Outdoor Voices, Tuft & Needle) with Alex’s third-generation diamond merchant knowledge to create an intuitive experience to guide and educate people through the biggest decision of their lives. Our customer experience strategy combines best-in-class experts who educate versus sell, we believe in combining modern communication with a team that have a minimum of 10 years experience understanding the diamond business with a 100 day no questions asked return policy -- the best on the internet.

What are consumers demanding of their diamonds these days, that they didn't in the past? 

Alexander Weindling: In the past, the consumer wasn’t as educated. They were taught that diamonds were rare and expensive and only cared about the size of the diamond. But, no one really thought about the toll that their diamond had on the environment and the workers that mined it. Today’s consumer is informed and wants to know where their product is coming from; that it’s ethical, not causing harm to the environment, and cost-effective. Great Heights is high-quality, custom-made, fairly priced diamonds that retail 40% less on average, compared to mined diamonds, while passing the same rigorous inspections as mined diamonds from the same independent labs.

Who is your typical customer, and how have you engaged them with the brand? 

Alexander Weindling: We target socially conscious females ages 25-44 and their significant others. Statistically, they are the researchers of what they want and are very aware consumers - perfect for the lab-grown diamond space. While the proposer may spend more time sorting through the various diamond options, he or she is usually highly informed from their partner, directly or indirectly through a friend or family member.  Our goal is to lead with informative and authentic content, built by a mirror image of themselves, which really speaks to our brand team. We feel this is a significant point of differentiation from traditional options, and retailers, most of which try to figure out who their customer is through focus groups in a boardroom. If you spend a day with us in our creative studio in Tribeca, you’ll just get it.

What does the future hold for Great Heights? 

Alexander Weindling: The future is bright for Great Heights. The response since our launch has been overwhelmingly positive. We’ve only seen the awareness and demand for lab-grown diamonds continue to grow in such a short period of time. We own one of the largest selections of lab-grown diamonds in the world, so Great Heights is easily able to develop and customise products for our consumers. In 2020, we will be launching new product categories to incorporate lab-grown diamonds into more fashion-based jewellery, exploring innovative retail/showroom concepts and looking beyond North America. We’ve only just begun.