JEDDAH: Saudi specialists have revealed precautionary measures that should be taken during the purchasing process of jewelry and precious metal at the national competition for gold and jewelry “Watan mn Dahab,” which concluded on Friday at the Jeddah Hilton Hotel. 
Estimated yearly sales of Saudi jewelry designers via online shopping reached SR10 million ($2.7 million), but the experts have still urged caution, and spoke to visitors at the event on how to secure themselves against commercial fraud.  
In the “Jewelry Online Shopping” conference, jeweler Rami Bawajeeh reviewed designers’ needs, such as metals, stones, design, drawing, clarification and description. He also reviewed the importance of learning presentation skills, sales, pricing, and the constant update of information.
He stressed the importance of online shopping, which represents the future of sales in the world of gold and jewelry, and enables new opportunities in e-commerce.
Bawajeeh advised jewelry designers to acquire new skills and experience to keep up with the Saudi market’s developments. He said he expected substantial growth of up to 200 percent in the next five years, amid the electronic transformation in the Kingdom and the spread of social media platforms and modern technologies.  
The supervisor of creative design at the advertising department of the University of Business and Technology in Jeddah, Safa Merheb, spoke about creating and designing advertisements for jewelry during a lecture on the topic. She said precious metals required special care to highlight their characteristics, and further attract the public to buy them.
Jewelry designer Effat Bahmeddin presented the international standards for jewelry design during an interactive workshop about “metal formation through drawing and coloring”. She highlighted the fundamental principles recognized for coloring and drawing, and stressed the importance of studying to support talent in order to reach excellence and success in the sector of gold and jewelry.
Chadi Mohammed Al-Mofleh, operation manager at Solitaire Laboratories, spoke about the importance of securing consumers against commercial fraud, through a thorough examination of jewelry, in the “Your Guide to Buying Jewelry” lecture. He spoke about classifying diamonds, processed diamonds, industrial diamonds, precious stones and precious metals.
He addressed how to ensure jewelry’s purity upon purchase, the major components for each piece, and modern techniques used in the diamond and precious stones industry which make the detection of natural stones difficult for experts without the use of sophisticated equipment. He noted the necessity of sending precious stones, diamonds and jewelry to laboratories and issuing a certification to protect the buyer and merchant equally.
Jewelry designer Dalal Al-Aqeel told her success story. She started in 2015 and overcame many challenges to reach an international level, and launch her brand Talida Jewellery. She noted that her goal was to create unconventional jewelry to keep pace with the market and satisfy the desires of women looking for sophistication and excellence.