MasterCard: Holiday Jewelry Spending Down 4.6%

Holiday spending may have been good for U.S. retailers, but one segment of the industry might not have a stake in the holiday cheer – jewelers. A recent report says jewelry spending this season was down 4.6 percent compared to last year, indicating a shrinking market share.

According to a report by SpendingPulse quoted by the Wall Street Journal, U.S. consumers spent 8.7 percent more during the 30 days between Black Friday and Christmas Eve. The biggest increases in spending were on home furnishings, up 15.2 percent, followed by consumer electronics and appliances, up 10.5 percent.

SpendingPulse, by MasterCard Advisors of MasterCard International, found that during the same period, online and store purchases of jewelry fell back 4.6 percent compared to last year.

These numbers surpass the National Retail Federation holiday prediction of a 6 percent increase in total holiday retail sales to $439 billion and contrasts IDEX Online Research prediction of 3 – 4 percent increase in jewelry sales.

One possible reason for the difference is that SpendingPulse counts gift card sales at purchase, while the NRF does so only when the cards are redeemed. Unlike online purchases, which are almost always made with credit cards, store sales include check and cash purchases too, which are not counted by MasterCard.