U.S. Jewelry Sales Post Solid Rise in March
May 16, 18
(IDEX Online) – Sales of fine jewelry and fine watches rose by 9.0 percent in the U.S. market in March, when compared to the same month a year ago, as the graph below illustrates.
Sales were an estimated $8.8 billion, according to preliminary data from the U.S. Commerce Department.
Specialty Jewelers Market Powerful in March
Specialty jewelers in the American market in March took less market share from multi-line retailers who also sell jewelry, with sales of $3.0 billion.
Specialty jewelers posted a 13.4 percent sales rise in March from the same month the year before, while other multi-line merchants who sell jewelry generated sales of $6.1 billion compared with $3.7 billion in the year-earlier month, as the graph below illustrates.
The graph below summarizes sales trends for specialty jewelers since the beginning of 2018. For American jewelers, sales grew strongly throughout most of 2017, and this year has started out powerfully for them with increases in excess of 10% in the first three months of 2018.
Specialty Jewelers Winning Market Share
Specialty jewelers did well against multi-line merchants throughout most of last year, and that has returned to be the case in February and March as specialty jewelers recorded a rise compared with a smaller increase at multi-line merchants.
The graph below summarizes the disparity between specialty jewelers’ sales gains and jewelry sales trends for all other retail merchants who sell jewelry. Specialty jewelers’ sales are represented by the red bars; multi-line retailers’ jewelry sales are shown by the blue bars.
Fine Watch Sales Slightly Higher Than Fine Jewelry Sales
By category, fine jewelry sales were up around 9.0 percent in March, while fine watch sales rose by 9.4 percent. March was the first month, after seven consecutive months, in which watch sales were higher than jewelry sales.
Consumer Demand Declines on Month in March
Total retail sales of all goods, except autos, posted a 5.7% sales gain in March, after a 4.0 percent increase in February. All jewelry and watch sales saw a higher increase – up 9.0 percent. The graph below illustrates sales trends for all retail sales (green bars) versus sales gains for jewelry (red bars).
Strong Start to 2018 Jewelry Sales
American jewelry consumers appear to be in a strong jewelry-buying mood, according to the figures for the first three months of 2018.
With the American economy continuing to improve, it's reasonable to assume that the figures will keep showing a solid performance in the coming months.