In a recent article on Solitaire, an B2B gem and jewelry magazine published by India’s Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC), diamond analyst Paul Zimnisky discusses the rise of the “self-purchase” category in diamond jewelry consumption in the US, “which may possibly outpace the bridal segment by the decade’s end,” according to him.
Zimnisky begins by noting that 2021 was a “generational year” for US diamond jewelry demand, while 2022 saw a flat market “despite a notable slowdown in sentiment in the second half of the year.” He estimates that sales exceeded $45 billion in 2022 – a compound annual growth rate of 4.2% when compared to 2017 numbers. Looking ahead, a “relatively unpredictable macroeconomic backdrop” may decide what becomes of the industry in 2023.
He then notes that Signet Jewelers, the largest diamond seller in America, “recently forecasted that the US jewelry industry would be down ‘mid-single-digits’ this year,” with a lull in bridal jewelry demand. Bridal diamond demand ( engagement rings and studded wedding bands) “is estimated to account for over one-third of US diamond jewelry demand,” he says.
Meanwhile, the “self-purchase” category, estimated to currently represent approximately one-third of diamond demand, “is the industry’s fastest growing category on a relative basis – and is possibly poised to outpace the bridal category by the end of this decade,” according to Paul Zimnisky projections.
Zimnisky reminds the reader that in 2019, the Natural Diamond Council (NDC) remarked that almost all of the growth in the U.S. market came from the “self-purchase” category. Shortly after that, De Beers launched the “Forevermark TributeTM Collection” aimed at “symbolizing and celebrating the many facets of the wearer… reflecting the growing trend for women to self-purchase.”
Read the full article here.
