{"id":1895,"date":"2021-06-04T08:23:55","date_gmt":"2021-06-04T13:23:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gemrockinternational.com\/de\/?p=1895"},"modified":"2021-09-13T10:29:20","modified_gmt":"2021-09-13T15:29:20","slug":"how-covid-changed-the-industry-and-what-we-can-learn-from-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gemrockinternational.com\/de\/how-covid-changed-the-industry-and-what-we-can-learn-from-it\/","title":{"rendered":"How COVID changed the industry and what we can learn from it"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Stefan Austerm\u00fchle, General Manager of Gemrock Peru\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0June 2021<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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The COVID Virus has changed the reality of the global gemstones and crystal industry. Many companies disappeared and many new ones appeared. Gem shows stopped existing or are of minuscular size. The internet has become the dominating sales-path. Read here about our perception of this change, how we adapted and what every gemstone business can learn from this.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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COVID \u2013 A global problem that in many cases has not been taken serious, but keeps affecting our industry. In March 2020, when we had just in time returned from the Tucson Gemshow and went into our first lockdown in Peru, sitting at home for 4 entire months, our government had promised that this drastic measure would prevent a massive infection and resolve the problem. Today, 15 months and three further lockdowns later, we all know better.<\/p>\n

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In Peru, a country with only 30 million inhabitants, more than 2 million people have been infected of which more than 180 000 people have been killed by COVID and with only 5 % of the population having received a vaccine yet, still more than 8000 people get infected every day.<\/p>\n

Tourism, the third biggest industry of Peru, has effectively become eliminated, leaving hundreds of thousands of Peruvians without job. And our industry, the mining industry (Perus biggest economic force), has suffered more than other industries from infection and death, because when you work in a mine you are living close up with many people.<\/p>\n

Most Peruvians know at least one person that has died. For us, three of our stone providers (miners) have fallen victim to the disease. Two of our Peruvian competitors are not in the race for clients anymore, because their managers\/owners got sick and died.<\/p>\n

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As dramatic as these numbers sound, the economic toll COVID has and still is taking from our industry on a global scale might be even worse. According to customs export information, all our Peruvian competitors suffered severe economic reductions. In 2020 the average stone export has fallen to less than 40 % of the amount of 2019, with some of our competitors suffering a reduction in sales of 75 to even 95 %.<\/p>\n

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Since our company was founded we had been building a database of more than 1500 companies working in crystal and gemstone sales all around the world. We built this database from gem show catalogues, so all these companies have been in business over the last few years. When updating our database we had to find out that more than 40% of these companies where not active any more, most likely they went bankrupt.<\/p>\n

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Ethical Crystal Sourcing<\/span><\/h3>\n

The Sky is the Limit!<\/span><\/h1>\n

We believe in global cooperation of like-minded companies and investors in order to earn money while changing the world for better.<\/span><\/p>\n

Partner with us in this tide-changing spearheading initiative and provide your clients with 100 % traceable really ethical crystal products while protecting the environment, supporting fair trade and ethical labour conditions as well as fighting child labour.<\/span><\/p>\n

And while making the world a better place, you will also make profits from on the project, have access to exclusive investor discounts and enjoy a free global marketing campaign resulting in an improved image of your bussiness and more clients. <\/span><\/p>\n

Get a unique edge over your competitors.<\/span><\/p>\n

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So how did the disease affect Gemrock Peru? Actually not a lot.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Why is that?<\/strong><\/p>\n

When we went into lockdown, of course we lost money, but we still were a rather small company, so it wasn\u2019t that much. During our lockdown time we decided for a bold move swimming against the current. While everybody reduced his business and went into \u201csaving\u201d mode, we attracted foreign investment in order to grow our company and went into \u201cspending\u201d mode. Today we have a company on a terrain 4 times bigger than before with 6 times more machines than before and 3 times more staff. When coming out of the first lockdown our clients had sold out their stock and we then sold them our stock while moving the plant and building new infrastructure.<\/p>\n

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Months later, however,\u00a0 we restarted business in a new reality:<\/strong><\/p>\n