The development of online jewelry sales followed along the heels of the development of the Internet as a viable method of marketing and selling nearly every product under the sun. With the success of online retailers such as Amazon.com, ToysRUs.com, and others, it was only a matter of time before someone applied the concept to the sales of jewelry.
             At first, it was believed that the buying public would not purchase high-ticket items like diamonds or jewelry online. Those who doubted the power of the Internet for online jewelry sales cited reasons such as: security concerns, the fact that jewelry is an emotional purchase, buyers need to physically hold an item in their hand to purchase it, and the Internet could never replace the one-on-one interaction between an experienced sales person and a consumer ("Jewelry sales", 2006). However, these skeptics were wrong.
             These sales were facilitated by a culture that was eager to get online and shop. In 2004, there were 290 million people in America. Of these, 63.9 percent, or more than 185 million, were Internet users. Seventy-six million households were online, in the United States alone. And, 60 percent of online users make purchases online (Okamura, 2005).
             Today, online sales of fine jewelry are approximately a $2 billion industry, in America alone. In 2004, U.S. sales of fine jewelry online grew 19.3 percent, or 4.7 percent of the total jewelry market. 2005 sales, in the US were estimated to rise 16.2 percent, or 5.3 percent of the jewelry market. Patti Freeman Evans, of Jupiter Research, anticipated a 14 percent gain to $2.2 billion, in 2006, or 5.8 percent of the market, and estimated 2009 online sales figured, for fine jewelry, to hit $2.7 billion, or 6.6 percent of the total jewelry market (Much, 2005). Forrester Research noted that online sales of luxury items, including jewelry, rose 28 percent in 2005. This "was faster than the 22 percent increa...