Fabergé
Although the Faberge team in its best years consisted of more than 500 craftsmen who worked on every piece of jewelry in detail (from packaging to precious stones), Carl Faberge himself kept all orders under control. Although historians have no evidence whether he ever personally created jewelry delights. But Carl Faberge definitely had the mark. Moreover, in several versions - St. Petersburg and Moscow. Items created in the northern capital bore the Faberge mark, written in Cyrillic and without initials. Moscow production put the mark “K. Faberge”, complementing it with a double-headed eagle. Items intended for sale in Europe were branded with the Latin alphabet. Masters who worked in St. Petersburg also had their own marks at their disposal, which sometimes replaced the master’s mark. Occasionally, items were left without identification marks. The reason is simple - there is no space on the product or its special fragility.
Under the magnifying glass of the FAS
Sunlight's aggressive marketing approach has at least one serious drawback: it risks fines from the regulator. The FAS has already paid attention to the network’s advertising: for example, in 2018, the Kurgan OFAS opened a case in connection with the sending of SMS with the following content: “Hello! This is Vera from Sunlight. By March 8, for the first time, we have a 50% discount on all gold, so I personally invite you to visit Sunlight stores and take advantage of a 50% discount on gifts for yourself and your loved ones. See you at Sunlight stores." But the case was later dismissed because Sunlight was able to prove that the subscriber agreed to receive advertising messages. In 2021, the Omsk OFAS decided to fine the company 100,000 rubles for “sending an advertising SMS message to a subscriber without his prior consent.” The resolution came into force only in September 2021, the press service of the FAS Russia told Forbes.
In July 2021, the Volgograd branch of the FAS for the first time recognized Sunlight advertising as violating clause 3 of Part 3 of Art. 5 of the Law on Advertising No. 38-FZ (advertising containing false information about the possibility of purchasing a product in a certain place or within a certain period). Then the antimonopoly agency did not fine Solnechny Svet LLC, but ordered it to stop disseminating information about “leaving the market” and transferred the case materials to “an authorized official to make a decision on initiating administrative proceedings” (the proceedings have not yet appeared in the file of arbitration cases).
The advertising move about “closing stores” is “one of the most successful marketing techniques from time immemorial in the mass market.”·DR
But complaints about the network did not stop and, based on new complaints, the Volgograd OFAS began another inspection of the company. A similar check based on a complaint from a local resident was launched in the Chelyabinsk region.
If the Chelyabinsk or Volgograd OFAS finds the network guilty, it faces a fine of 100,000 to 500,000 rubles, says Vladimir Bublikov, partner of the RKT law firm. A Forbes interviewee familiar with the jewelry market believes that even after these fines, the chain will continue to use the marketing technique of closing stores, because “for it, these 500,000 rubles are nothing.” “This marketing has been working for several years, and everything is fine for the network.” In addition, Sunlight has a chance to get out, Utkin believes: “Now all the chains are closing some stores or moving from one tenant to another, or even just to another location in the same shopping center. Formally, this can also be called closure.”
Golden time
In 2011, when franchising just started, the revenue of the main legal entity responsible for working with partner outlets, Onyx-Holding, amounted to 2.9 billion rubles, profit - about 6 million rubles, and in 2014 - already 6 billion rubles and 89 million rubles, respectively, according to SPARK-Interfax data. Gribnyakov refuses to comment on the company’s financial performance. In a conversation with RBC, Sunlight co-owner Alexey Konovalov, however, said that the company’s revenue in 2014 was “a little more”: the Onyx group, according to him, worked through several legal entities. According to Eduard Utkin from the Guild of Jewelers of Russia, in 2014 Sunlight’s revenue could reach 9-10 billion rubles.
However, due to a drop in demand amid a sharp weakening of the ruble at the end of 2014 - beginning of 2015 and a decrease in the incomes of Russians, “things began to decline,” Utkin believes. The number of chain stores by the end of 2014 decreased from 277 to 258, and in 2016 - to 211; during the crisis year, the chain transferred 40 franchise points under its own management, according to the RBC.Market Research report. The revenue of Onyx-Holding (which, after the closure of franchising, apparently began supplying the chain’s own stores), according to SPARK, fell first to 3.6 billion rubles in 2015, and then to 1.7 billion rubles in 2016 Profit: 85 and 45 million rubles, respectively. It was possible to maintain profit despite a sharp drop in revenue thanks to the transfer of production from China and Hong Kong to Kostroma: due to the jump in the dollar exchange rate, Russian production has become three times cheaper, Utkin believes. Today, according to Gribnyakov, Russian-made products account for 80% of all Sunlight products sold. Among the partners are Alcor, Krastsve.
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“Sunlight will still use this advertising, for him a fine of 500,000 rubles is nothing”
At the same time, claims against Sunlight appeared from the Federal Tax Service. At the end of 2021, the service assessed Onyx-Holding about 730 million rubles in VAT and income tax with penalties and fines. In 2021, the company tried to challenge the decision of the Federal Tax Service in the Moscow Arbitration Court, but it sided with the tax service.
The network was found to have evaded paying taxes: according to the Moscow Arbitration Court, the company purchased jewelry products from LLC Bril and LLC Stik, which it controlled, which in turn ordered jewelry from contract manufacturers in China and Hong Kong. Maria Kukla, a partner at the law firm FTL Advisers, explains that the scheme worked as follows: Stik bought jewelry from manufacturers, then made a markup of more than 50% and sold the goods at an already inflated price to Onyx-Holding, follows from the arbitration decision court. The profits received from this scheme by “Bril” and “Stik” were transferred in favor of fly-by-night companies under contracts for pre-sale preparation of products, which were not actually carried out. The main profit from operations was deposited in the “one-day” companies, which allowed the network to evade paying VAT and profit tax in full, Kukla explains the decision of the capital’s arbitration court. “Taxes were additionally assessed to Onyx-Holding LLC, since “Bril” and “Stik” were not independent economic entities, but were part of a group with Onyx-Holding LLC. In this case, the tax was recalculated using the “tax reconstruction” method - additionally assessed by the amount of saved tax payments,” the lawyer adds.
Sunlight lawyer Lyudmila Korneva responded to Forbes’ request that the employees who took part in the audit no longer work for the company, so the network cannot comment on the issue.
Since 2009, the company began producing charms - small pendant beads that are strung on bracelets.·DR
In 2021, Onyx-Holding's income is declining even more: the legal entity's revenue, according to SPARK, amounted to about 685 million rubles, profit - 8.2 million rubles. Another 696.6 million rubles in revenue and 5.6 million rubles in profit were brought in by the new legal entity Solnechny Svet LLC, 100% owned by Gribnyakov since 2021 (this legal entity appears in the privacy policy on the company’s website, and will also later appear in FAS documents related to the brand). However, it is hardly possible to talk about a sharp slowdown in business. The FAS claims dated July 2021 against Sunlight mention another structure - UK Retail Park LLC, which, according to SPARK, manages 18 other legal entities associated with jewelry activities. It also appears in the report “Retail Chains Selling Jewelry 2018”, prepared by RBC.Market Research, as the main structure of the network. In 2014, the turnover of companies managed by UK Retail Park amounted to 2.5 billion rubles, in 2015 - 4.1 billion rubles, in 2016 - 5.9 billion rubles, in 2017 - 8 .9 billion rubles. Sales profit in 2014 amounted to 123.2 million rubles, in 2015 - about 839 million rubles, in 2016 - 2.17 billion rubles. In 2017, when additional taxes were assessed, the structure’s profit decreased to 566 million rubles. Gribnyakov refused to talk about UK Retail Park.
He called the period after the claims from the Federal Tax Service “a difficult time,” but did not comment on the drop in turnover. “There are managers who deal with financial issues, and there are managers who deal with the product and its promotion. I belong to the second group - I am not involved in finance,” Gribnyakov explained his position. But he added that in order to pay off penalties and fines, the company had to take out loans.
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Sunlight SL brand jewelry
The brand has set its sights on so-called budget diamonds. The brand produces products with diamonds that are an order of magnitude lower than analogues from other companies.
The fact is that the brand’s craftsmen often use stones with minor defects. They do not affect the appearance of the mineral in any way, are visible only under a microscope, and do not affect the service life of the diamond.
Microscopic inclusions or bubbles are the main defects that reduce the cost of a diamond, but not its aesthetics. The choice of cut can also significantly reduce the cost of production.
Sunlight Jewelers perform processing on a small number of sides. The most expensive diamonds with 57 facets. Experts note that such crystals shine most effectively during any consecration. However, such a number of planes can only be obtained on large diamonds.
The area of small specimens does not allow the use of cut No. 57. It is small diamonds that Sunlight craftsmen use. Therefore, there are only 17 facets. Several diamonds are placed in one product. They are reflected in each other, compensating for the lack of light reflection.
“Diamond scattering” is a favorite technique of the brand’s craftsmen. They use a lot of very small stones. Products strewn with them sparkle like status items and are inexpensive. Other companies often filter out such small crystals as illiquid.
This, by the way, is caused not only by the parameters of the stones, but also by the reluctance to tinker with them. It is not so easy to process and cut a diamond a millimeter in diameter, even if only 17 faces need to be polished.
At the same time, each diamond is inserted into the products manually, which allowed the brand’s products to become known among consumers as reliable and durable. All Sunlight products , like those of its parent company Onyx, undergo quality testing. The examination is carried out by the Russian Instrument Supervision Inspectorate. It was created in 2002. The laboratory is located in Moscow.
The downside is that SL diamonds cannot act as an investment.
They are too small, their characteristics are not ideal. Banks do not accept such stones. It is also unlikely to be able to resell them profitably.
Sunlight Brand Policy
The company's policy is not to produce capital goods, but to make diamonds accessible to every woman in Russia. The lower price threshold for diamond products from Sunlight is 4 thousand rubles. The brand management assures that only stones of natural origin are used in production, and not artificially grown ones.
Among the creations of Sunlight masters are not only bracelets, rings, earrings and other jewelry, but also watches. In addition to diamonds, other precious and semi-precious stones are also used, for example, cubic zirconia, amethysts, rubies, and emeralds.
The metal is usually 585 with the addition of copper, but sometimes white gold (an alloy with zinc and palladium) and yellow gold (minimal impurity content) are also used. SL jewelers also work with silver. Every year the brand presents new products.
One of the latest developments is transformers. These are jewelry that are laid out and folded so that one item turns into earrings, a ring, and a bracelet. There are other variations, transformers for 2 or 4 items.
Every Sunlight product comes with a warranty. In 2013, the company pleased fans with the “Olympic collection”. Her face is not a famous model, as is usually the case, but the title bracelet of the series. It contains precious figurines of skates, cups, and figure skaters.
Fantasy jewelry is another smart tactical move by the company. By releasing not only discreet classic models, but also jewelry with futuristic, unusual designs, the brand reaches a larger number of customers. Sunlight products, as they say, are purchased by both young and old.
It is noteworthy that Sunlight specialists do not order jewelry designs from outside, but draw them themselves.
The only thing that the brand's management buys is watch movements. They are delivered from the Land of the Rising Sun. The Japanese signed a contract with the Russians 5 years ago.
