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Cover
Retail Rap
By Phyllis Schiller
HOW DID HOLIDAY SALES STACK UP ?
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| Cornelia Goldsmith |
The 4Cs are not the only things that make a piece of diamond jewelry a sales winner. In an ongoing series, Rapaport Magazine explores the “3Ws” — what’s selling, what’s not and why — by going straight to the people who really know — jewelry retailers. Each month, we ask a sampling of retailers to comment on the important issues that are facing the industry today. Here is what they had to say when asked: “How did Christmas measure up this year compared with 2012?”
“This was my 49th Christmas and it was the weirdest one I’ve ever experienced. One week you can almost make payroll but not quite and the next week was like the walls of Jericho came down.
“I haven’t done the final numbers, but generally speaking, I think the average sale will be much higher this year. We did have some large $30,000 purchases. We had very, very large individual purchases and then we had the $20 Rembrandt charms selling. It was all across the board.
“We had some nice color sales this year. We encouraged it. The color market is either a mature, educated market or it’s the ‘wow,’ what I call the Crayola effect. If you have what customers haven’t seen every place, they will buy it. We put a lot of loose color out. Amethysts are always hot and we sold emeralds this year. And we sold a lot of diamonds; diamonds are what save us every year.”
“It seemed to go pretty well. We didn’t do a lot in large-item sales but it seemed that there were more customers in general. They were buying a lot of fashion pieces and they were buying more yellow gold then they did in past years, a lot of David Yurman. It was a lot of everything. People were looking more in the middle price range, not the $10,000-and-up pieces. The dollars eventually added up. I believe the total will be higher than 2012.”
“The holiday season was a lot of traffic. December was a little off but the year was very strong and it finished up very well. In December, silver was still hot, watches were pretty good and pearls. Diamonds are always good.
“If you figure November and December together, it was reasonable because it was a shorter season. For the year, we sold more bigger-ticket items but not necessarily limited to December.”
“This year was a little weaker than previous Christmases, but it was stronger than I expected for a three-week period. Estate and fine watches were the best sellers. With Thanksgiving being so late, a lot of people didn’t even get into the shopping spree part of it until the last 10 or 12 days.”
“It was a very successful holiday season. Sales were up and we stayed busy all month. It was a great month. A lot of sterling silver sold and I didn’t see too much price hesitation as we have in the past. A lot of people were buying the higher-priced pieces but we also sold a lot of the trendy sterling silver items.
“I think having the later Thanksgiving affected the holiday season in that people were more apt to buy on the spot versus thinking about it. So it created a better buying season.”
“We’re pretty much even with last year. I’m a big Rolex store and that did very well. David Yurman did well. We’re a high-end store so our average price point was $2,000 to $5,000.”
“The season was good but not gangbusters. What was interesting was that it was very consistent. Two years ago, we started out very strong in November but it died near Christmas. And in 2012, it started out slow and then got very strong near Christmas. But this year, we were consistently strong throughout November and December.
“People were willing to spend more for the higher-ticket items this year. And traffic was pretty decent. I think we are up, not dramatically, but a little. Even if our numbers aren’t huge this year, I felt comfortable because we never had lulls.”
“The season went well for us. We were up from last year. We did have a few more higher-priced items, bigger sales, which always helps the numbers. And overall, traffic was good; we were pretty busy. What sold was across the board. Diamond jewelry is always good, pearls were good and we sold some of the higher-end watches.
“Having a later Thanksgiving wasn’t really a factor.It was just a more condensed season. It was definitely a shorter period but I think everyone realized that and they came in to buy.”
“We were disappointed with the results; a lot of it had to do with the weather. We had a severe storm here with a lot of ice and snow, which is very unusual for this area. And that wasn’t conducive to having people come out and walk around. So our business was definitely down for the season. Customers’ budgets were still tight. We did fairly well with diamond stud earrings but we didn’t sell any carat stones. All in all, it wasn’t a robust season but we’re happy to get what we got.”Article from the Rapaport Magazine - January 2014. To subscribe click here.
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