(IDEX Online) - De Beers Group Auctions has appointed Alastair Bickerstaff as head of Product Development and Sales. The new role was created following the departure of the head of Sales and CRM and is intended to develop more synergy between product development and sales and to better address its customers product needs.
The company said this appointment makes De Beers Group Auctions better placed to market its products in a more targeted way while ensuring customer feedback is acted upon by production in a much more responsive way.
"Digital transformation is underway in many industries to further enhance sales models, build stronger connections with customers and optimising production," said James Kirby, senior vice president of Auctions.
"Together with Alastair's extensive product knowledge, customers can expect us to introduce more product- and service-oriented solutions in the very near future where we put technology to great use to better address their needs quicker than before."
Bickerstaff started working with De Beers Group as a trainee diamond valuer in London 14 years ago and has experience working in rough diamond sorting departments and business units across various geographies, including London, Botswana, Belgium and South Africa.
He has spent much of his career in Large Stones valuation and was also a Technical Manager in Global Sightholder Sales (GSS) in Botswana where he was responsible for monitoring Sightholders global polishing factories and keeping up to date with current manufacturing processes and technologies
De Beers sells 10 percent of its diamonds through online auctions.