In a recent analysis titled “Jewelry Demand Sinks 11% in October, But Do Not Fret!” on Edahn Golan Diamond Research & Data, diamond analyst Edahn Golan analyzes the latest sales figures and market trends.
He begins by stressing that, while “most jewelry retail sales figures were in the red in October on a year-over-year basis, […], US jewelry demand is still relatively high, reflecting ongoing elevated consumer interest in the category.” Compared to the pre-pandemic levels of 2019, sales in 2022 “outperformed 2019 every single month.”
Jewelry Demand and Trends
In terms of value, jewelry sales fell 11.1% in October, while the number of units sold fell 12% year-over-year. Over the ten-month period (January to October 2022), jewelry demand rose 4% year-over-year.
Year to date, the average per unit spend increased 9.3% year-over-year. In terms of volume (counted by the number of units sold), jewelry sales fell 5.2% year-over-year in the January-October 2022 period.
According to Golan, “the two most important jewelry market trends so far this year were chain necklaces and fashion rings.” Chains captured a 13.7% market share of units sold in the first ten months of the year, and were also the best-selling item in October.
Fashion rings were the best performing item in terms of revenue, generating 13.5% of total jewelry sales during the period.
As for the sales of natural diamonds, year-to-date sales were down 5.2%, “falling 25.4% year-over-year in October alone.” Retailers lowered diamond prices, evident in a 1.1% decline in the average price of round, 1-carat diamonds during the period.
For lab-grown diamonds, Golan identified two key trends in October: “prices continued declining, and sales kept rising.” LGD sales went up 41.8% year-over-year in October, while prices were down on average 4.4%. Year to date, lab-grown diamond sales were up more than 37%.
Golan then goes on to discuss several more issues: changes in inventory in response to changing demand; jewelry demand in 2022 vs. 2019; and the forces impacting holiday jewelry sales – “the increased interest in jewelry, the positive impact the midterm election results have had on the mood of large city consumers, and the high cost of international travel.”
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