(IDEX Online News) – US specialty jewelers posted a 4.2 percent revenue decline in 2015, according to final data from the Department of Commerce. This was well below the preliminary data, which had shown that their 2015 sales were roughly flat. Specialty jewelers are those retail merchants who generate a majority of their revenues from the sale of fine jewelry and fine watches in the US market.

 

The revised “final” sales for specialty jewelers reflect trends that retail merchants in the IDEX research group had posted – modest single-digit declines in sales. We believe the government’s numbers are much more in line with reality now.

 

The government also revised specialty jewelers’ sales back to 2008. Most of the changes were very modest and only 2015 revenues were substantially affected.

 

Total fine jewelry and fine watch sales by specialty jewelers were $30.3 billion in 2015, down from $31.6 billion in 2014, based on the revised data. Specialty jewelers have been losing market share, but in the past it was due to slower growth than industry sales.

 

In 2015, preliminary US jewelry sales – revenues generated by all merchants, including multi-line retailers – were $75.6 billion, up from 2014’s $74.7 billion. We note that total industry numbers will be revised one more time – near the beginning of summer. There should be no more major data revisions until mid-2017. 

 

The graph below illustrates annual sales levels – US$ in billions – for specialty jewelers in the US market.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Click here to read the full IDEX Online Research article.