Jewelry e-commerce platform also educates customers

Ice.com is an online jewelry marketplace hosting only approved sellers, and educates buyers about the prices they should be paying.

The US jewelry and fine watches market is worth USD 80 billion, but e-commerce platforms account for a very small portion of that — around 5-7 percent. Now, Ice.com is an online jewelry marketplace that hopes to change this. As well as offering affordable, quality jewelry from vetted sellers, it aims to educate its buyers about what prices they should be paying.

The Austin-based startup, led by entrepreneurs Justin Yoshimura and Brandon Proctor, purchased the domain from the previous owners, who also used it as an online jewelry store. The marketplace recently launched out of beta with 100,000 items from quality vendors. As well as vetting the sellers, Ice.com negotiates pricing on items to ensure competitive pricing. Customers then purchase items directly from the seller.

The site also has an educational component to encourage fair pricing. Currently this consists of information guides about diamonds, pearls, gold and platinum. Soon, each item will be dynamically linked to the database to help customers understand any confusing terminology associated with the piece they are looking at.

Are there any other industries that have yet to fully tap the potential of e-commerce?