(IDEX Online News) – Sales of fine jewelry and fine watches in the US market fell by 1.4 percent in the all-important Holiday selling season of November-December 2014, when compared to the same two-month period in 2013, according to preliminary figures from the US Department of Commerce. 

 

This sales decline occurred despite a solid US economy with job growth, improved consumer confidence, and relatively robust sales gains of other big-ticket durable goods such as automobiles and home furnishings.  The graph below summarizes sales trends of fine jewelry and watches for the past decade. This is only the second time in the past 10 years that jewelry sales fell during the Holiday selling season. The other time occurred in 2008 during the “Great Recession.”    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Total November-December 2014 holiday fine jewelry and fine watch sales were an estimated $21.8 billion (preliminary), down from the prior year’s $22.1 billion, as the graph below illustrates.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Here are other highlights of the government’s preliminary report:

 

·         Total fine jewelry sales fell by 1.3 percent for the two-month period November-December 2014, when compared to the same two-month period in 2013.

 

·         Total fine watch sales fell by a notable 2.4 percent for the 2014 Holiday Selling Season.

 

The government significantly revised its previously reported November jewelry sales data.  Earlier, government figures showed that November 2014 sales of fine jewelry and fine watches were up 1.4 percent.  With the latest report, November’s fine jewelry and fine watch sales were revised substantially downward, showing a decline of 0.8 percent. 

 

This weak consumer demand in the US market is taking its toll on the global diamond market, and is likely to keep polished diamond prices depressed for the first half of 2015. 

 

A full analysis of 2014 holiday jewelry sales, including detailed sales trends of specialty jewelers, will be published later this month.