US Watch and Jewelry Sales: Further Growth in December
February 05, 25
(IDEX Online) - Sales of watches and jewelry in the US showed further signs of growth in December 2024, up 4.4 per cent year-on-year, according the latest figures from the US Department of Commerce. But there's been a marked slowdown since the 10 per cent increases of last September and October.
November saw sales up by just 3.0 per cent, revised down from 5.8 per cent based on actual through-the-till transactions rather than estimates. October has been revised up from 9.7 per cent to 10.0 per cent.
The average monthly year-on-year growth for the full year is 5.4 per cent, so December was little below par. Having said that, it was the 15th consecutive month of growth after a long period (the end of 2022 and much of 2023) of falling sales.
Signet reported a sluggish performance over the 10-week holiday season, with same store sales (SSS) down 2 per cent year-on-year. It trimmed its SSS forecast as a result.
LVMH said last week that its watch and jewelry division had seen revenue down 3 per cent during the last quarter of 2024.
And US imports of Swiss watches fell in December for the first time in six months, according to the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry Exports (FHS).
The overall trend remains upwards as demand gradually increases, but with many fluctuations, as shown below.
Jewelry sales in the US rose by 4.4 per cent during December (compared to 3.1 per cent in November), according to Department of Commerce figures. Watch sales were up by 4.9 per cent, compared to 2.9 per cent in November. The overall increase in sales of watches and jewelry for December was 4.4 per cent, up from 3.0 per cent in November.
