(IDEX Online News) – U.S. jewelry and watch sales edged barely ahead during the important Mother’s Day selling period in May, according to preliminary data from the U.S. Department of Commerce.

 

For the month of May 2012, preliminary data for the U.S. market shows the following:

 

·        Total jewelry and watch sales were an estimated $6.3 billion, up 1.4 percent from the prior year.

 

·        Total jewelry sales during May were up 1.7 percent.

 

·        Total watch sales during May were down 0.4 percent.

 

For the month of April, revised data for the U.S. market shows that the previously reported jewelry and watch sales gain of 0.7 percent was too high. Instead, jewelry and watch sales declined by 0.3 percent in April, according to newly released figures from the Department of Commerce.

 

May’s performance was disappointing, especially in light of the weak sales in April. Because Mother’s Day came later in May this year, we had expected a shift in jewelry sales from April to May. As it turns out, both April and May jewelry demand was weak.

 

The graph below summarizes monthly sales trends for jewelry and watch sales in the U.S. market.

 

Source:  Dept of Commercce

 

2012 Sales Forecast Trimmed

We are once again trimming our jewelry sales forecast for 2012 for the U.S. market. Earlier this year, we had predicted that jewelry sales would rise by six percent in 2012. Last month, we reduced our forecast to a gain of five percent. Our new forecast calls for a gain of perhaps four percent, with a range of four-to-five percent. In other words, this is more of an exercise in fine-tuning, but directionally, it is negative.

 

Two factors have affected our revised forecast:

 

·        Sustained weak demand for jewelry in both April and May.

 

·        Deflation of precious metal prices and flat diamond prices.

 

Our forecast of 2012’s sales gain of four percent is in dramatic contrast to last year’s eleven percent gain.

 

IDEX Online Research will have more detailed sales information during the third week of June.