Gemological Science International (GSI), the leading gemological organization for major U.S. jewellery retailers, announced today the official launch of its new Assurance by GSI™ – a multi-faceted solution that offers various services for retailers. The new initiative includes an e-commerce fulfillment program and drop-ship service to consumers, as well as quality control for all new merchandise. Effective immediately, the esteemed laboratory becomes a one-stop hub for online purchases for its partner retailers, being the last stop before the consumer receives the goods, ensuring accuracy, consistency, and a strict level of quality control. Through the end of the year, GSI plans to offer the service in the U.S., with plans to expand to international markets early next year.
“At GSI, we are always looking for solutions to better serve our retail partners. We created the new ASSURANCE by GSI service to protect both our retail clients and their customers,” says Debbie Azar, President, and Co-Founder of GSI. “The pandemic boosted online sales overnight and presented retailers with new logistics challenges. Adapting our service offerings to now include quality control and drop-ship service helps the retailers to protect their prestigious reputations. It also increases customer satisfaction with quicker, more efficient delivery, and it will ultimately enhance consumer confidence because every order is fully screened for both quality and accuracy before being shipped.”
This innovative new service is a logical extension of services already provided by GSI, such as diamond and gemstone jewellery screening and testing of finished jewellery, as well as quality assurance. The lockdown- inspired boost in jewellery e-commerce presented leading U.S. retailers with a growing dilemma – ensuring that correct orders and fully vetted goods were drop-shipped to their customers in a timely fashion. With the new ASSURANCE by GSI, goods are submitted directly from the jewellery manufacturer to the GSI laboratory where they are inspected to make sure they meet all quality control requirements and to make sure all diamond jewellery represented as natural does not contain any undisclosed laboratory-grown diamonds before shipping directly to the consumer in the retailer’s preferred packaging.
Additionally, Assurance by GSI also provides Quality Control solutions and services to retailers. As a result of the increase in jewellery sales and a shortage of labor, retailers are faced with bottlenecks in their Quality Control departments for new incoming merchandise from their suppliers. Assurance by GSI solves the problem by offering complete quality control for all jewellery items before they are shipped to retail distribution centers or store locations. GSI already analyzes and tests millions of jewellery items for its retail customers each year, screening for undisclosed lab grown diamonds. Now adding the quality control service will allow goods to reach the jewellery stores much faster, especially during the busiest time of the year, the holiday selling season.