US Watch and Jewelry Sales for October Lower Than a Year Ago
December 05, 22
(IDEX Online) - Watch and jewelry sales in the US are now lower than a year ago, according to the latest figures from the Department of Commerce. They fell by 1.9 per cent year-on-year during October, the first month of negative growth since May 2020, when Covid lockdowns devastated the industry. Growth in sales has been slow - below six per cent for every month since May - but has always managed to stay just about positive. Sales growth for September has actually been revised up slightly, from 1.3 per cent to 1.4 per cent.
The last time sales growth reached a low point like this was as we emerged from the initial Covid lockdowns. It was 1.1 per cent in June 2020, on its way up after hitting a record -55.9 per cent in April of that year. That was part of a diamond industry recovery, but October's figure appears to be part of a long, slow decline.
Jewelry sales fell by 2.2 per cent and watch sales fell by 0.5 per cent during October, an average fall of 1.9 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 jewelry fell by 3.8 per cent in October, according to Mastercard SpendingPulse, which monitors sales by all payment types. We saw a rise in spending across most sectors - largely due to huge price rises in food and fuel - and only the luxury goods sector (excluding jewelry) fared worse, down 8.7 per cent. The last time we saw negative growth in sales of US watches and jewelry was March to May of 2020, which was severe but short-lived, followed by slow but steady recovery as the world began to open up after Covid lockdowns. This time there's no obvious end in sight.