We would like to inform you about important changes in the strategic direction of Swarovski’s B2B business and the respective consequences regarding our business relationship.
Swarovski has embarked on an extensive transformation program, merged its B2B and B2C businesses and will follow a one vision, one strategy, one organization approach from now on. Over the past months Swarovski has been reviewing all fields of activity worldwide to ensure that they are in line with the new strategic direction and economic realities. More than ever Swarovski wishes to protect its individual brand character and avoid confusion in the marketplace as to the nature and branding of products.
As a consequence, Swarovski will continue to offer its sustainable and precision-cut crystals to B2B customers but will be working with a limited number of wholesale customers, manufacturers and application center, in much closer collaboration in the future. In this context, we are delighted to confirm that we will be one of those customers, and continue to offer Swarovski crystals in the future.
Nevertheless there are changes in the operating model that will affect us. More precisely, Swarovski will establish new brand control agreements and wishes our B2B customers to accept, that the purchase of crystal components does not entitle the customer to use the Swarovski brand when selling finished products embellished with Swarovski crystals. In other words, you will have to commit not to state “embellished with crystals from Swarovski” or similar, when selling finished products with Swarovski crystals to consumers.
This means, Swarovski’s new distribution model will focus on the protection of the Swarovski brand assets and is therefore designed for wholesale customers, manufacturers and application center, that re-sell the crystals to B2B customers, who are the crystal end-user, selling the finished products to consumers, and contractually agree to their new ways of working.
Swarovski is also streamlining the operating model, and it is with much regret that we must inform you, that Swarovski will withdraw from offering Swarovski® components that are tailored for retail segments, like DIY or nails. Therefore, we will unfortunately not be able to offer these products in the future.
Knowing that the changes are impactful, Swarovski has reassured us that we can continue to purchase Swarovski products at current terms & conditions until end of September 2021.
This means we will be given sufficient time to prepare for the changes and adapt.
We hope that you join us on this transformation journey, and continue to choose Swarovski crystals under new terms & conditions. We will be able to discuss all changes with you in detail latest in the first quarter of 2021 and thank you for your patience in the meantime.
• From October 2021 onwards, we can only sell Swarovski crystals to customers that have been approved by Swarovski. Approval is restricted to brands / businesses who create a finished product using Swarovski crystals. The on-boarding process has already commenced and many of our customers are fully approved by Swarovski. The approval process involves you signing a brand control agreement with Swarovski.
If you would like to continue buying Swarovski Crystals from 1 October 2021 onwards, please complete the application form on our website. Once we have reviewed your application, you will need to sign a Brand Control Agreement with Swarovski. Your business will then be assigned a unique GSK for purchasing Swarovski crystals going forward.
