American consumers continued to loosen their purse strings in February, and jewelry demand strengthened. This is a continuation of the healthy spending trend which began during the 2009 holiday selling season. February is important for jewelers, since Valentine’s Day, the second largest selling event of the year, occurs during the month.

 

The good news: many sweethearts received a gift of jewelry this year. But there is one spot of bad news: jewelry shoppers shifted their buying away from specialty jewelers in favor of discounters and other multi-line retailers.  

 

Here’s the scoreboard for February U.S. retail and jewelry sales:

 

Retail Category February 2010 Vs February 2009 Total Retail Sales – All Categories +4.6 percent Total Retail Sales – Ex-Auto & Food +5.3 percent Total Jewelry & Watch Sales +6.5 percent Total Jewelry Sales +6.4 percent Total Watch Sales +7.4 percent Total Specialty Jewelers’ Sales +3.9 percent Total “Other” Merchants’ Jewelry Sales* +8.7 percent Source: U.S. Department of Commerce *New category – Jewelry sales at all merchants not classified as “specialty jewelers.” Includes Wal-Mart, J.C. Penney, Kohl’s and others

 

 

Source: U.S. Department of Commerce

 

 

Bridal Jewelry Demand Remains Strong

American jewelers continue to report that bridal jewelry – mostly diamond jewelry – is among their strongest categories. February is an important month for engagements, as the graph below illustrates.

 

Source: JIRI

 

Merchants also report that some of the categories showing the strong growth include special orders, estate jewelry, custom jewelry, designer jewelry and private label goods, all of which illustrate shoppers’ desire for “something different.” This trend is a continuation from January and most of 2009.

 

Outlook: Solid Gains Foreseen

Bridal jewelry sales are expected to remain strong, both near and longer term. Near term, there could be some modest pent-up demand for bridal jewelry, especially from couples who were married during the recessionary environment of 2008 and 2009 and who put off purchasing bridal jewelry until “things got better.”

 

Longer term, the baby boom of the late 1980s and early 1990s will fuel demand for bridal jewelry, with a peak in demand coming around 2016.

 

On a month-to-month basis, we could see some choppiness in jewelry demand, depending on how the consumer reacts to a job market that is predicted to recover more slowly than usual. However, economic indicators continue to suggest that the recovery will be stronger than many economists had predicted.

 

IDEX Online Research believes that 2010 jewelry sales will show solid gains, but that total dollar sales levels will not recover to pre-recession levels until at least 2011.

 

For more information on February 2010 retail and jewelry sales trends and full analysis, please click here.