(IDEX Online) – The U.S. jewelry industry does a credible job of tracking the jewelry sales mix for specialty jewelers, but very little information is available on the jewelry sales mix for non-specialty jewelers.

 

The Economic Census published by the U.S. Census Bureau provides some additional insight into the sales mix at a very high level for some categories of merchants besides the traditional specialty retailer. That’s the good news. The bad news is this: the Census Bureau’s product categories only very broadly reflect directional trends in sales by product line.

 

Despite the caveats that accompany the Census Bureau’s jewelry sales mix data, it provides a view of jewelry sales by retailer category that is not available any place else.

 

Jewelry Sales Mix for Other Merchants Selling Jewelry

The following tables summarize the sales mix for merchants who sell jewelry, but who are not specialty jewelers.

 

Clothing Stores Sell Mostly Costume / Novelty Jewelry

America’s clothing stores often accessorize their merchandise with jewelry. There’s an old adage among retailers: “if you show it, you sell it.” Thus, this jewelry is available for sale, even if most of it is low-value costume jewelry.

 

Clothing stores sell about 9% of all jewelry sold in the U.S. market, though only about one-fourth of this jewelry is “fine jewelry.”

 

The following table summarizes the breakdown of jewelry sales by category, as reported by the Census Bureau, for clothing stores.

 

 

Department Stores Sell Colored Gemstone Jewelry

Department stores have traditionally sold an abundance of colored gemstone jewelry. However, it is difficult to determine exactly how much colored gemstone jewelry department stores sell, since the Census Bureau has a catch-all category for gemstone jewelry called “diamond, gemstone and pearl jewelry.” There is no detailed breakdown by individual category, but we believe most of those sales are colored gemstone jewelry and pearl jewelry.

 

Other sources suggest that department stores are relatively important distribution points for gold jewelry. However, Census Bureau reports do not support this allegation.

 

Traditional department stores sell just over 8 percent of all jewelry sold in the U.S. market.

 

The table below summarizes the jewelry sales mix for U.S. department stores, based on the Census Bureau’s reports.

 

 

Discount Department Stores Sell Much “Other Jewelry”

Unfortunately, the Census Bureau does not provide much jewelry sales mix detail for discount department stores such as Kohl’s, Wal-Mart and others who are considered “discount department stores.” However, it is clear that they do not sell as much gemstone jewelry, including diamonds, as traditional department stores.

 

Discount department stores sell less than 4 percent of all jewelry sold in the U.S. market.

 

The table below summarizes the jewelry sales mix for U.S. discount department stores, based on the Census Bureau’s Economic Census data.

 

 

Warehouse Clubs Sell Gemstone Jewelry Including Diamonds

It has been an ill-kept secret that America’s warehouse clubs such as Costco are important retail distribution points for diamond jewelry. Data from the Census Bureau’s Economic Census confirms this fact: diamonds and gemstone jewelry represent the largest category of jewelry sales for these retailers.

 

Warehouse clubs sell just over 4 percent of all jewelry sold in the U.S. market, based on Census Bureau data.

 

The table below summarizes the jewelry sales mix for warehouse clubs, based on the latest data from the Census Bureau.

 

 

Other General Merchandise Stores Sell Lots of “Other Jewelry”

It seems ironic that “other merchandise stores” are among the largest sellers of “other jewelry.” It appears that this is a retail catch-all category for merchants who simply don’t fit in one of the Census Bureau’s pre-defined retail categories. We can’t verify the names of any merchants who are in this “other” category, but we can confirm that they sell less than 1 percent of all jewelry sold in the U.S. market. Thus, they really aren’t so important.

 

The table below summarizes the jewelry sales mix for “other retailers,” based on the latest data from the Census Bureau.

 

 

Online Merchants Sell Mostly Diamonds

While the Census Bureau data confirms that online jewelry sales are just under 6 percent of total U.S. jewelry sales, it does not provide any breakdown of sales by category. However, several proprietary sources suggest that diamond and diamond jewelry sales represent at least 70 percent or more of total online jewelry sales.