US Watches and Jewelry Sales Bounce Back from Pandemic
June 24, 21
All Jewelry and Watch Sales
US sales of watches and jewelry in April were up by 176 per cent year-on-year, reflecting a robust recovery from the depths of the global pandemic. April 2020 saw total sales halved, as the first lockdowns and travel restrictions were imposed. Year-on-year sales have been steadily increasing since June 2020. In March 2021 there was a rise of almost 90 per cent, the first comparison with a full "Covid month". The figure, earlier reported as 65 per cent, has been revised up significantly based on actual through-the-till transactions rather than estimates.
Major Revisions to Sales Figures
Revised sales figures for total watch and jewlery sales March are much higher than reported last month, up 14.6 per cent from $98,110,000 to $112,469,000. There are always fluctuations, based on actual rather than estimated sales but these are generally no more than one or two per cent. By comparison, February's total watch and jewlery sales were revised up by just 0.2 per cent. Jewelry sales for March were revised up by 15 per cent. Watches were up by almost 13 per cent.
Jewelry vs Watch Sales
Sales of all jewelry were up by a remarkable 180 per cent year-on-year in April, and watches were up 160 per cent, averaging out at the overall headline figure of 176 per cent. This was, of course, from an extremely low base because of Covid.
Specialty Jewelers
Last month the US Department of Commerce finally released figures for sales by specialty jewelers, after a gap of over a year. They showed a good recovery up to February of this year, with year-on-year increases of around 25 per cent, after a 78.5 per cent crash in April 2020.
The Department has not released any figures this month, so the graph below shows sales trends up to February, the latest month for which we have information.
Jewelry and Watch Sales vs Specialty Jewelers
Specialty jewelers sales were hit much harder than the overall sector, according to the figures released last month by the US Department of Commerce, but have been leading the recovery ever since. The graph below shows recent overall jewelry and watch sales, but there are no new figures for sales by specialty jewelers.
Outlook
A year-on-year rise of 180 per cent in jewelry sales would be unthinkable in "normal" times, but during a Covid recovery it indicates a return to business as usual. De Beers' rough sales for this month were $470m, up from $385m last month, and India's spike in coronavirus deaths and infections has slowed significantly, with less impact on its manufacturing output than initially feared.