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IBM Predicts 5% Rise in Holiday Jewelry Sales
Nov 25, 2018 7:15 AM
By Rapaport News
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RAPAPORT... IBM has forecast strong growth in jewelry sales over the
holiday retail season amid robust consumer sentiment.
Purchases in the category will rise an estimated 5.2% year
on year during the festive period, IBM vice president and chief scientist
Michael Haydock said Thursday.
Jewelry was fourth in the company’s list of categories set to see the highest sales growth. It came in behind consumer appliances and various types of clothing.
Women’s clothing was fifth, while footwear nabbed the sixth spot. Jewelry has fared well even in a shaky period for some retailers. The category was one of the strongest at JCPenney in
the third quarter, even as the company’s total sales fell 6%, it noted last week.
“Jewelry has been a business that we’ve been pleased with,” the
department-store chain’s CEO, Jill Soltau, said in a call with investors on
November 15 following its results announcement. “I think the customer continues
to respond very nicely to what [the jewelry division] has done from a curation
and merchandising perspective around great gifts for the holiday season,” the
executive said during the session, which was transcribed by Seeking
Alpha.
Research groups are expecting strong increases in total
retail sales during the festive season. Revenues will rise 4.8% overall, IBM
predicted, while the National Retail Federation expects a 4.3% to 4.8% increase.
Consumer sentiment has remained positive throughout the year, according to the University
of Michigan’s Surveys of Consumers.
However, holiday sales could suffer if the US Federal
Reserve raises interest rates significantly, University of Michigan chief
economist Richard Curtin added.
“While there is no reason to anticipate a sudden change in
interest-rate expectations in the next few months, it is still an important
task for the Fed to avoid hitting the threshold that causes widespread
postponement of purchases,” he noted.
Image: Jewelry in a gift box. (Shutterstock)
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Tags:
holiday retail season, ibm, jcpenney, Jill Soltau, Rapaport News, Richard Curtin, University of Michigan, US Federal Reserve
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