Wedding Planning and Accessories

"What is palladium?" - a question that really needs to be clarified.

Here’s an example of what’s wrong with The Internet. While acting like a curious monkey over at Google Insights, I decided to take a peek at regional search interest for the terms “platinum,” “palladium,” “gold,” “tungsten” and “titanium.” I noticed that the phrase “what is palladium” has grown in popularity.

 

So what’s a guy to do? I decided to type “what is palladium” in the Google search box to see what pops up. And the first result is for an article about palladium that can be found on WiseGeek.com. The article itself is informative, but then this stopped me dead in my tracks – “While palladium is not the most expensive precious metal, it can be quite costly.”

 

Ummmmmmmmmm. Okay. Does that mean that like any metal (or even oil), the market price can eventually increase? Or does that mean that the current price of palladium is perceived as being “costly?” What really does that mean? Every time I read it, I can see how ten different people may be able to interpret that sentence ten different ways. And that’s one of the top results for “what is palladium.” As a first time jewelry shopper doing research on this other metal, I could even start thinking that palladium is an expensive metal, so I better stick with gold since I may not be able to afford platinum right now. Or how should “the every-man/every-woman” interpret that phrase?

 

It’s best to point out that the market price of palladium is currently much less than gold. While many years back palladium was even more expensive than platinum, it is now very affordable and a better choice over white gold if I desire a white metal but need to watch my pennies. However, in no way, shape or form am I saying that palladium is a direct substitute for platinum. I feel that’s like saying that my loaded Honda Civic – while a nice car with all the bells and whistles – is a direct substitute for a top-of-the-line BMW.

 

Learn more about palladium…

 

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Thoughts about palladium and its current position in the jewelry industry.

Today I noticed on Google Insights that search traffic for the term “palladium” has risen approximately 40%. A few months ago, I ranted about palladium on one of my smaller blogs, and how I feel that it is a better option over white gold when you are looking for a white metal (and platinum is not an option). While the following was written for the jewelry industry in general, I feel that consumers can learn a little bit about palladium from it as well. As the fine people at Syms note in their ads – an educated consumer is the best customer.

Palladium is an affordable metal that is naturally white and durable. The price of palladium is currently much lower than gold or platinum, so it seems as if palladium would be the right choice for anyone looking to get a little more bang for their wedding buck. While there always will be a premium consumer looking for a supreme metal like platinum (just like there will probably always be customers for luxury cars), palladium just might be the better choice over white gold if you are shopping for a less expensive white metal.

So why isn’t palladium more popular?

Earlier this year, I found out that the main organization in charge of promoting palladium – Palladium Alliance International – was either disbanded or at least put on indefinite hiatus. One of the rumblings that I have heard is that the price of palladium was currently too low to make any publicity efforts financially worth while. Of course, there’s most likely much more to the story, but many of my Palladium Alliance International contacts were suddenly unreachable, and only after more digging (and a phone call with a very tight-lipped publicity firm owner) did I find out that these people might either be out of jobs or hopefully working elsewhere. At approximately the same time, I read on Google Insights for Search that consumer interest in two palladium-related keywords rose up to 60% in the Google search engine. What timing! The spike was only temporary, but it definitely could have been used for palladium’s advantage.

Palladium is not a direct substitute for platinum. It does have many similar qualities, but platinum is, well, PLATINUM! However, palladium can be the right choice over white gold if platinum is not an option. After all, white gold is not naturally white; it is yellow gold that can eventually have zinc, palladium and silver added to give a white appearance. Both platinum and palladium are naturally and even possibly eternally white. Not once during my almost ten years in the jewelry industry have I heard a consumer exclaim – “oh, my platinum ring is turning yellow!” Nor report that a palladium ring had unexpectedly turned a yellow color, either.