US Watch and Jewelry Sales Level off in May
July 03, 22
(IDEX Online) - The growth in US sales of jewelry and watches levelled off again in May, back to March levels after something of a spike in April. The year-on-year increase for May was 10.5 per cent, almost on a par with the newly-adjusted figure of 10.3 per cent for March. April was 16.2 per cent. These figures are still healthy compared with 2019, for example, when there was negative y-o-y growth for much of the year and a December peak of just 8.3 per cent. There is, however, clearly a decline since the euphoric post-lockdown days of Spring 2021, as the graph below shows. Sentiment in US will doubtless have been dampened by inflation, which hit a 41-year high in May at 8.6 per cent, together with ongoing uncertainties over Russia and its invasion of Ukraine. Sales figures for January to April have been revised down slightly, based on actual through-the-till transactions rather than estimates.
Jewelry sales rose by 10.8 per cent and watch sales were up 8.8 per cent during May, an average increase of 10.5 per cent.
The U.S. Department of Commerce has, for all practical purposes, ceased reporting sales by Specialty Jewelers. The last figures it released were for February 2021. In May it published its first set of revisions in almost a year - revising down sales for virtually all months from January 2019 to February 2021 - but we've heard nothing since. IDEX Research will publish any new updates on specialty jewelers as and when they become available.
Assessment
Spending on watches and jewelry in the US slowed a little in May, amid interest rate rises, record inflation, fears of a recession and a slowdown in the growth of consumer spending - up just 0.2 per cent from April to May. Despite the apparent doom and gloom, watch and jewelry sales are still increasing at steady rate, though still below the latter half of 2020, after the initial shock of the Covid pandemic.