IDEX Online Research: Consumer Jewelry Expenditures by Educational Level - Better-Educated Consumers Spend More on Jewelry

Sy Syms, the menswear retailer, popularized the expression that “an educated consumer is our best customer.” That is also true, in a different sense, for jewelers. When it comes to jewelry expenditures, consumers spend in direct proportion to their educational level: the highest and best-educated consumers spend the most on jewelry.

Consumers with a college education spend more than two-and-a-half times more on jewelry than a consumer with only a high school graduate. Consumers with a post-graduate degree (for example, a Ph.D.) spend triple the amount on jewelry versus a high school graduate.

The disparity is even greater when comparing the highest-spending consumers (post-graduate degrees) versus a consumer who did not complete high school: the best-educated consumers’ jewelry spending was nearly twelve times as much in a year as the jewelry spending of a high school dropout.

Occupation and income explain some of this spending disparity, but not all of it. For example, households where shoppers have post-graduate degrees earn three-and-a-half times as much as a high-school dropout, but their jewelry expenditures are dramatically greater – nearly twelve times as much, as noted.

The following graph summarizes spending by education level for U.S. consumers.

When jewelry expenditures by educational level for 2005 are compared to those for 2004, it is clear that the spending disparity widened. While high school grads spent about $343 per household on jewelry in 2005, they spent about $361 per household in 2004. The graph below summarizes jewelry expenditures by educational level for 2004.

Market Size of High School Grads Is Surprising

Many jewelers use total market spending potential, rather than spending per household, as a way to measure market potential. The theory is simple: spending per household may be high, but if there aren’t many households, there isn’t much of a market.

When it comes to educational levels, the aggregate market size of high school educated consumers is nearly as large as the aggregate market size for college-educated consumers. Why is this? There are about 85.3 million households with only a high school education, but there are about 32.1 million households with a college degree. While the spending per household of high school educated consumers is not large, they wield huge buying power as a group.