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How Blue Nile Inc. is Changing the Jewelry Industry certain museum
Blue Nile is a true e-commerce (EC) which in 1999 launches an online marketplace where
sells certified diamonds and fine jewelry at lower than retails prices. Their products must
be stored, shipped and physically delivered, therefore, one or more of the commerce
processes (product, process, and delivery) takes place offline and they could be classified
as a partial e-commerce. Blue Nile is an e-marketplace owned and operated by the
company itself and their type of selling is one-to-many; therefore, they are considered a
private, sell-side, e-marketplace.
The Diamond and Fine Jewelry industry has significantly changed since launching the
Blue Nile’s webstore. Blue Nile offers certified diamonds and fine jewelry at prices
substantially below traditional retail with the highest quality and their true success is in
result of well-organized EC, which offers education, guidance and expertize opinion on all
products (via phone, email or life chat). Their online catalog with a variety of 70,000
round diamonds with customized options beats any physical store’s inventory and at the
same time grooms save between $3,000 and $5,000 when proposing.
Another reason for their success is the disintermediation where they eliminate the
intermediary that operates between the seller and buyer. This way they provide direct
service which speeds up the purchasing process and by eliminating the third party
commission, they decrease the operational cost. Therefore, by using disintermediation, the
Blue Nile’s private EC can afford to sell their high quality products at substantially lower
