The online channel is becoming increasingly
important around the globe, although consumers
are going online for different reasons in different
countries. In the US, the internet is becoming
important as a sales channel in its own right: more
than one-tenth of diamond jewellery sales in the
US were made online in 2013. While online is not
yet a significant sales channel in China, the internet
is used by a quarter of acquirers for research
purposes before purchase