US Jewelry Sales Surge in September

Total sales of fine jewelry and fine watches in the US market surged in September – up by 4.8 percent, the monthly largest gain in more than two years. Once again, however, the beneficiaries of this remarkable consumer demand were the multi-line retail merchants – primarily discounters – whose sales rose by an extraordinary 8.5 percent. In contrast, specialty jewelers’ sales fell by 0.6 percent.

This surge in consumer demand for jewelry bodes well for the 2015 holiday selling season. We are more confident of our forecast of a sales gain in the low single-digit range for the all-important November-December period.

Market Bifurcation Continues

Total sales of fine jewelry and fine watches in the US market in September were an estimated $4.9 billion, according to the latest preliminary data from the Department of Commerce. This was the largest monthly sales gain posted by the US jewelry industry since April 2013. The market remains bifurcated, as the following data illustrates:

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