US retail

Christmas sales were sluggish for fine jewelry stores, and despite anticipated traffic during the pre-holiday weekend, the numbers were disappointing. Store owners reported almost nonexistent Christmas Eve shopping, and Christmas engagement purchases, which typically help boost holiday results, were off significantly. Still, figures for December were slightly better than they were a year earlier, which may indicate an upswing coming in 2018.

‘Sales just never bounced back’
The biggest problem facing retailers in December was lack of demand. This year had “a very weak holiday season,” according to Hy Goldberg, owner of Safian & Rudolph Jewelers in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Even though the jewelry industry tends to thrive in years when the stock market is up, 2017 has been a notable exception, Goldberg remarked.
   “There’s a lot of hesitation in spending for non-essential purchases,” he said. “Also, the important bridal segment — mainly today’s millennials — don’t seem to feel the need for a diamond engagement ring. As a result, volume is weak, and ticket prices are considerably lower.”
   Other stores have seen a holiday slowdown due to increased online competition. John Nichols, sales manager at Huntington Jewelers in Las Vegas, Nevada, blamed the lack of customers on a growing internet-shopping trend among younger consumers. His store also cut back on holiday promotions and buying. “New owners are taking over in January,” he explained. “That means no promos, no buying, no new inventory. All of this added to the down sales.”
   Yet even for stores without any radical upheavals, the season was disappointingly uneventful. “Sales have been okay, but nothing to be extremely enthusiastic about,” said Eve Alfillé, owner of Eve J. Alfillé Gallery and Studio in the Chicago suburb of Evanston, Illinois. “Sales just never bounced back to pre-2008 levels.”
   Unlike some other retailers, though, Alfillé doesn’t see this as an internet-related issue. “I don’t think it’s due to online purchasing, although that’s certainly been part of it,” she said. “What we produce is not available online. It’s one of a kind. Our real competition is trips abroad and other luxury items.”

Underwhelming engagement
Despite hopes that sales might pick up by the end of December, stores found that the crowds never materialized.
   “This was the slowest Christmas we’ve had in a long time,” said Nichols. “Las Vegas as a luxury area hasn’t quite come back yet. And even though a few of our regulars showed up, and Christmas Eve and a few days before were decent, the month was just really slow.”
   For Goldberg, even the weekend right before the holiday was quieter than expected. “Christmas was not great, but it was better than last year,” he said. “It’s still way off from three or four years ago. December 16 was our busiest day. But Christmas Eve, there was nothing. I’m actually seeing more traffic on the day after Christmas than I saw on Christmas Eve. But last December was so bad that this December almost had to be better. And Christmas used to be the biggest day of the year to get engaged, and now? Nada.”
   Alfillé agreed that the pace of the holiday was off this year, but sales to panicked weekday customers helped her meet modest goals. “The Wednesday and Thursday before Christmas were very busy, but Saturday and Sunday were not,” she said. “All the desperate men, including some of our heavy hitters, turned out on Wednesday and Thursday, but Friday was not busy. And even though we didn’t get as many heavy hitters as we used to, we ended okay.”

Article from the Rapaport Magazine - January 2018. To subscribe click here.