ATP - General Discussion, page-224

Auctions are for traders though. I don’t know what the retail prices would be for ATP’s highest grade pearls, but its own retail website indicates that markups from auctions to the final consumer are immense. No doubt auctions will remain ATPs principal sales channel, but expanding sales to people higher up the supply chain is surely a good idea. The company is best placed to assess the potential of this initiative, it will be interesting to monitor its progress. I imagine that any success it has in building new marketing relationships will be sticky, in a market that will remain tight.