As the diamond, colored gemstone and jewelry world continues to develop, the concept of holding stock has become less relevant. In a digital age, why would a company hold a large inventory of goods anymore? The cost can be exorbitant and once you have bought the item you have to hold it while offering it for sale, or sell it on because you can't find a buyer, possibly at a loss. The digital age provides businesses with a leaner business model and flattens out the playing field, meaning that smaller firms can have the same impact as much larger ones. One company leading the way with a revolutionary new way to buy and sell is Virtual Diamond Boutique (VDB).

As the company says: "With VDB, you can carry all the world’s diamonds and gems with you wherever you go, finding your next customer everywhere and anywhere. Forget old-fashioned spreadsheet technology. Search for diamonds the way you buy: with your eyes. VDB’s visualbased mobile app means you can immediately show customers exactly what they are looking for. The sales are closed and the gems are on their way with a few simple taps."

The company makes an important point when it says: invest in your business, not your inventory. Its virtual showcase allows users to increase business without increasing stocks, which means freeing up cash flow and increasing profits, says one of the company's co-founders Gil Ohad in an exclusive interview with The New Jeweller.

A long-time diamond salesman based in the United States, he and his co-founders, Tanya Nisguretsky, who is CEO, and her father Leon Bitelman, owners of Shenoa & Co., cofounders of Verragio, and partners at Illuminex Diamonds, identified the opportunity not just to take the business into the digital age but to package a number of options and create what he calls an eco-system.

VDB's aim is supporting retailers and other members of the industry during a period of unrelenting change. Retailers need flexible and technological tools to be able to compete and stay profitable, and VDB says its different elements can be customized to specific requirements. Users can use the platform to connect with a wide range of vendors to source inventory – from mined diamonds to Lab grown to colored gemstones and finished jewelry from across the world. Meanwhile, others will see the benefits of virtually having inventory on their mobiles which they can show and sell at anytime, anywhere. Ohad says VDB has more than 750,000 items available at any one time from the world’s top suppliers.

Meanwhile, a custom mobile app powered by VDB with a white label program, give clients a state-of-the-art app in the app stores without the large investment, long lead time, and risk of hiring developers to create one from scratch.

The app is stocked with the client's own inventory and the inventory of requested vendors in order to provide customers with a wide range of goods.

Several large retailers have already signed up for white labeling options, which allow them to market our app as their own in the app store, with their own colors and logo as well as many customizable features, such as choosing certain screens to display, locking in specific vendors, setting up special markup tiers, connecting VDB's feed to the client's website, and incorporating the VDB search engine interface.

The program also enables retail chain stores to upload their inventory onto the app and share exclusively between their different locations, thereby streamlining the process.

VDB is also designed to use with customers to pre-sell diamonds: display wholesale or retail pricing, or no price at all. And firms can limit search results to their own inventory, add their own favorite vendors, or show everything available.

The program puts stock in front of 16000 wholesale and retail buyers around the world, connects multiple locations, and provides a one-click connection for members of buying groups like CBG and RJO to make it easier for retailers and supplier members to do business with one another.

Ohad explains that the program provides a mobile showcase, with everything needed, including images, videos and reports. Importantly, VDB’s visual interface lets customers scan pictures and compare stones side-by-side, as well as length-towidth ratios, inclusions, and cut quality are easy to evaluate, with no need to click through screen after screen looking for the details.

VDB makes it easy to select a few choice favorites and send it to customers directly from the app, complete with images, videos, and grading reports.

And with VDB’s automatic pair matching tool users can present diamonds for stud earrings and three stone rings.

As Ohad states: "VDB really presents users with a wide range of tools to enable them to manage stocks and make sales easily in a digital age. VDB levels the digital playing field, empowering small companies to compete on a global level by making advanced technology accessible."