May US Jewelry Sales Perk Up, But Specialty Jewelers Lag
July 22, 15
(IDEX Online Research) – US shoppers bought fine jewelry at a record rate in May, but the beneficiaries were multi-line retailers such as Wal-Mart, Costco, J.C. Penney and other merchants who sell a wide variety of other merchandise. May, with Mother’s Day, is one of the three most important selling periods for jewelry during the year.
Total sales of fine jewelry and fine watches rose to an estimated $7.3 billion in the US market in May, an increase of 0.4 percent, when compared to the same month in 2014, according to new data from the US Department of Commerce.
This is the first month to show an increase in retail jewelry demand, after seven months of declining sales, as the graph below illustrates (green bars).
This sales gain, though modest, also confirms recent economic data: consumers appear to have loosened their purse strings during most of the second quarter, despite an uncertain economy.
By segment, fine jewelry sales rose by 0.5 percent in May, while fine watch sales fell by 0.7 percent during the month, according to data from the Department of Commerce. Fine jewelry sales represent about 88 percent of total industry sales, while fine watches represent the balance. The following graph illustrates recent trends in sales of fine jewelry versus fine watches...