US Watch and Jewelry Sales Show Slight Increase

(IDEX Online) - Sales of jewelry and watches bounced slightly in July, up by 10.2 per cent, year-on-year.

The previous month's sales, initially reported as just 0.8 per cent, have now been revised up to 5.3 per cent, based on actual through-the-till transactions.  And sales for May have been revised up from 5.1 per cent to 6.0 per cent.

However, overall sales growth in recent months has clearly been depressed by war, sanctions and US inflation, which was 8.5 per cent in July, rising to 12.0 per cent in August.

Year-on-year growth peaked in April 2021, at an unprecedented 218 per cent as the industry recovered from a devastating Covid-hit April 2020, when it was down 54 per cent.

Jewelry sales rose by 10.3 per cent and watch sales were up 9.8 per cent during July, an average increase of 10.2 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

Sales in August appear to show some signs of recovery, but we need to treat these figures, based on US Department of Commerce estimates, with some caution. Sales in May, initially reported as increasing by 10.5 per cent, have since been revised down to 6.0 per cent. June sales, reported to be up by just 0.8 per cent, have now been revised up to 5.3 per cent. We could report July sales as a near doubling of the previous month, but it may be wise to wait for the actual, rather than estimated figures.