(IDEX Online News) – For the November-December 2011 two-month period, total U.S. jewelry and watch sales rose by 10.7 percent to $19.0 billion, up from the prior year’s 17.2 billion.

 

Based on preliminary numbers, specialty jewelers posted a mid-single digit sales gain while multi-line retailers generated a mid-teen sales increase for the jewelry category. Fine watch sales rose by a solid 11.8 percent in the 2011 holiday period while jewelry sales rose by 10.5 percent.

 

The table below summarizes jewelry and watch sales by major channel for the 2011 holiday selling season of November and December.

 

 

The table below summarizes sales of jewelry and watches separately during the 2011 holiday selling season.

 

 

Watch sales were about 13 percent of total holiday sales in 2011; jewelry represented the remaining 87 percent of sales. This is consistent with the total annual sales mix, which has remained static at 13 percent watches / 87 percent jewelry for the past several years.

 

2011 Holiday Jewelry & Watch Sales NOT A Record

While total annual jewelry sales in 2011 reached a record level, far exceeding the prior record year of 2007, holiday 2011 sales were not a record level. In fact, the $19.0 billion in jewelry sales posted for the 2011 holiday period were roughly $500 million below the record $19.5 billion in sales during November-December 2007, just prior to the beginning of the Great Recession.

 

The graph below summarizes historical total jewelry and watch sales in the November-December period since 1998.

Source: US Dept of Commerce

The following graph summarizes the year-to-year percentage change in jewelry sales for the November-December selling period in the U.S. market.

Source: US Dept of Commerce

Holiday Jewelry Sales Less Important

It is important to understand why holiday jewelry and watch sales in 2011 did not reach record levels while total annual jewelry and watch sales reached a new record peak.

 

Essentially, the percentage of annual jewelry sales made both in the holiday selling season and the fourth quarter have declined over the past decade. Jewelry and watch demand is becoming less seasonal, and the holiday selling season is becoming less important for the jewelry industry. In short, more jewelry is being sold during the year, but it is not as concentrated in the holiday period as it has been in the past.

 

Total jewelry and watch sales were 27.9 percent of total annual 2011 jewelry and watch sales in 2011, down from 28.0 percent in 2010.

 

The change in the seasonal mix of jewelry sales is especially pronounced with specialty jewelers, whose holiday sales have shown a notable decline as a percentage of annual sales.

 

From a high of nearly 35 percent in 1999, November-December sales declined to 27.8 percent in 2011, more than a full percentage point below 2010’s 28.9 percent. There has been a gradual long-term decline in the importance of holiday sales, as the graph below illustrates.

 

Sales plummeted during the 2008 holiday selling season, and represented only 25.2 percent of annual sales for specialty jewelers during that year, a selling season that most jewelers would like to forget.

Source: US Dept of Commerce

Specialty Jewelers’ Sales Volatile in 2011 Holiday Selling Season

Specialty jewelers’ sales rose by a modest 1.1 percent in November 2011, but were up by a more robust 8.9 percent in December, as the graph below illustrates.

Source: US Dept of Commerce

For the November-December period, specialty jewelers posted a 6.4 percent increase in sales. The graph below summarizes specialty jewelers’ sales trends – as a percentage change from year-to-year – for the holiday selling period.

Source: US Dept of Commerce

The following graph summarizes specialty jewelers’ aggregate revenues during the holiday selling period for the period 1992 through 2011. Sales were greater in at least six other holiday periods versus 2011 jewelry sales. As we noted earlier, the November-December period is becoming less important; jewelry demand has become less seasonal.

Source: US Dept of Commerce

Jewelry Industry Gains Market Share in 2011 Holiday Period

For the November-December period, the total jewelry industry sales gain of 10.7 percent was almost double the sales increase of 5.9 percent for all retail categories during the same two-month period.