New York: NPD Group, a well-recognized market research firm releases findings from its recent project ‘Diamond Tracker’, which gathers data from a representative cross section of U.S. Speciality jewellers, 3950 doors in total. The study shares interesting data about how lab-grown diamonds are selling at retail, Madestones reported.

The percentage of total sales of laboratory grown diamonds has tripled from 0.1% in 2015 to 0.3% in 2016. NPD data also shows which lab-grown diamonds are most popularly selling at retail.

Diamond industry analyst, Edahn Golan who has been consulting NPD on this project, says, ‘The consumer demand for lab-grown is rising, customers are buying items that are at the heart of natural diamond demand.’ Average sales center around 1ct stones. However, sales of few large stones have also been recorded. The interest in 2-3 ct stones displays that the demand is not limited to smaller budgets.

The average cost of loose stones to retailers is around 40% less than comparable mined diamonds. The turnaround of lab-grown is faster than that of mined diamonds of identical characteristics making them better assets for financial resources, says Golan.