Brits love bargains on engagement rings, many US couples dislike the emerald-cut shape in theirs, and the Chinese are expected to buy less and less of them: these are three interesting trends revealed in three different wedding-related surveys and reports published this month. Here’s a brief run on each one.
A new UK survey by gift card marketplace Zeek reveals that the Brits have their own priorities when setting out to buy tokens of love: 15% of the respondents (more than one in ten) look for discounted engagement rings. Since there are 700,000 married couples in the UK, this means that around 105,000 people in the kingdom are wearing a ring for less that its retail price. Engagement rings are among the ten most unlikely items the British are looking to find a bargain on: right after school uniforms, and tied with anniversary presents.
Another survey, this time by The Wedding Report, shows that emerald-shape diamonds are not popular among people seeking an engagement ring. A poll taken by costofwedding.com between July 1 and July 20 revealed that 38.3% of the respondents would avoid emerald-shape diamonds. 26.7% said they “love” the emerald-cut and 5.8% said it would be too hard to pair it with a wedding band.
But the most unnerving news, especially for jewelers, comes from the massive Chinese market. According to a report by Gem Konnect, the sharp drop in marriages in China is making Chinese jewelry retailers particularly jumpy, and most of them predict slower sales growth of jewelry in the coming years. In addition, many are developing cheaper product lines to cater to the gifting market generated by more casual relationships.
One of the prime reasons for the drop in marriages is seen as China’s one-child policy, which was revoked at the beginning of this year. This has led to a major decline in people in the number of
people in the prime marriage-age bracket of 20-29. In addition, many women in China are now able to financial security without having to resort to marriage. Women make up more than half the country’s undergraduate students in 2014, and many are delaying marriage, building careers and achieving financial security first.
In 2015, some 12 million couples registered to get married — the second consecutive year that numbers have dropped. Meanwhile, divorces reached 3.8 million last year – more than double the number from a decade ago.
