Eyris Blue Pearl Company

Launching a new pearl in the fine jewellery market to reside as an equal beside other rare and precious jewels is an ambitious goal for Canterbury’s Eyris Blue Pearl Company, but one they are winning, with increasing sales and profitability.

The company evolved out of the New Zealand paua fishery in 1996 and is now accepted as part of the global jewellery community, says Roger Beattie, Managing Director of Eyris Blue Pearl Company, the marketing company, and Sea-Right Investments, the parent company which farms and processes the blue pearls.

With more than 25 years experience as a paua diver, Mr Beattie has dedicated the last 18 years to pioneering blue pearl culture in New Zealand’s native species of abalone, including developing the technology which has enabled him to farm and cultivate the blue pearls, adding enormous value to this iconic Kiwi shellfish.

“Many have followed us in this industry but failed to survive and we are now the only company producing blue pearls. Unlike others, we’ve taken a strategic long-term view, we haven’t been undercapitalised, we looked at it and said there are 20 things we have to get right, 19 doesn’t cut it.”

He says another critical success factor has been separating the business into three different sections – blue pearl farming, processing and marketing.

“We haven’t made the mistake that almost everyone else has made, in that we don’t design, manufacture or retail the jewellery. That’s one of the biggest mistakes our competition made and it cannibalises your market because your retail customers think you’ll undercut them or keep the best jewellery for yourself.”

Eyris Blue Pearls has positioned itself at the top end of the multi billion dollar global jewellery market, selecting the United States and Italy as its first target markets.

“The United States because they are early adopters and the world’s largest consumers of pearls, and this is our fastest growing region,” says Mr Beattie. “Italy we chose for their prominence in the jewellery market and their flair for fashion.”

Customers are selected on a number of criteria, including their standing in the jewellery industry, their understanding of branded jewellery, customer base and distribution networks and their passion for the blue pearl.

“By selling our blue pearls only through a small number of customers we can work closely with them. We make it easy for them to do business with us, giving them long-term exclusive contracts, visiting them regularly and supporting them at major trade shows.”

Eyris Blue Pearls’ vision is to become a global eco luxury brand, launching into one new country at a time using the proven formula it is running in the United States and Italy.

The company invested heavily in getting its brand right at the beginning, including working with one of New Zealand’s top branding experts. It created the term blue pearl as the generic name to set this new pearl apart as a colour addition to the pearl world, promoting it as New Zealand’s first gem, the blue pearl capturing the essence of New Zealand as a vibrant fresh young country.

“The jewellery industry is built on glamour, a traditional industry that has put its message out into the market in the same way for 100 years or more. Our method in breaking into this market is not just to rely on ‘the look’ of our product, but to build a brand around our story, telling the world about our key points of difference, ethics, production and philosophy.

“We spent two years developing our marketing strategy before we sold a single pearl and that market-led rather than production-driven strategy is now paying off and has given us the competitive edge required to succeed internationally.”

Mr Beattie says he absolutely started with export in mind. “I had grand visions right from the start. You can’t get to where we’ve got to now without having a big goal in mind.”

He says if he was selling each paua for meat it would be worth between $3 and $6, that same paua grown for another two-three years is worth in excess of $100 if you are growing a pearl.

“The cost of growing that paua and processing and marketing the pearl is huge but at some point of time you are going to hit profitability and my accountant is now quite happy.

“We’ve got ten times more demand than supply, the blue pearl is internationally recognised as a genuine pearl now by the top scientific and gemology institution in the world, retailers that sell our product do very well out of it and our demand is growing every year. We have a monopoly on supply and that is a huge advantage.”

Mr Beattie recently sold one of his pearls privately to an overseas visitor on an international pearl tour.

“She paid $20,000. That’s 1600 times more than the equivalent paua without a pearl. Now, is that added value or what?”

Contact: Roger Beattie, Manager Director, Eyris Blue Peal Company, phone 03 377 0365, email roger@bluepearls.com, www.bluepearls.com