US Watch and Jewelry Sales: Slower Growth in November
January 06, 25
(IDEX Online) - Sales of watches and jewelry in the US grew again in November, but at a slower rate than in the previous couple of months. The year-on-year increase was 5.8 per cent, down from 9.7 per cent in October and 10.1 per cent in September, according to the latest figures from the US Department of Commerce. It's the 14th consecutive month of growth after a long period (end of 2022 and much of 2023) of falling sales.
The figures are subject to revisions and it's worth noting that sales in October were revised up from 8.8 per cent growth to 9.7 per cent, based on actual through-the-till transactions, rather than estimates. Growth for September, originally reported as 10.3 per cent, has been lowered slightly to 10.1 per cent. Nonetheless, the overall trend remains upwards, with year-on-year growth so far of at least 2.6 per cent for every month of 2024.
Much of the recovery is being driven by Amazon, Costco, Walmart and other multi-line retailers, which jointly account for around two thirds of all watch and jewelry sales. The US bucked a global trend and saw imports of Swiss watches increase during November, up 4.7 per cent year-on-year, according to the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry. In October the increase was 11.3 per cent.
The Department of Commerce no longer provides a breakdown for specialty jewelers - so we now use Signet Jewelers, the world's largest retailer of diamond jewelry, as a benchmark. Last month the company announced a 0.8 per cent dip in same store sales (SSS) for its 2,300-plus North America outlets, for the 13 weeks to 2 November. That's a marked improvement on the 3.7 per cent drop during the previous quarter.
The graph below shows Signet's SSS for 2024 still below those of 2023, but closing the gap. If the trend continues, we can expect positive growth in the current quarter. The recovery in Signet sales has been slower than that of overall US jewelry sales, but now appears to be increasing at about the same rate. Total jewelry sales in the US have grown by 3.4 per cent (Q4 2023); 5.1 per cent (Q1 2024); 4.4 per cent (Q2 2024) and 8.3 per cent (Q3 2024).
The overall trend in sales of jewelry and watches in the US remains upwards, despite slower growth in November.
Jewelry sales in the US rose by 5.7 per cent during November (compared to 9.4 per cent in October), according to Department of Commerce figures. Watch sales were up by 6.3 per cent, compared to 10.9 per cent in October. The overall increase in sales of watches and jewelry for November was 5.8 per cent, down from 9.7 per cent in October.
