SALES: SOME UP, SOME DOWN
The year so far has been an entirely mixed bag for the industry. While some jewelers were dealing with poor sales and slow traffic, others were experiencing record numbers. Of the retailers who attended JCK, most reported that the show felt quieter than usual. Other retailers simply decided to skip the show, either because of the increased consumer desire for custom and estate pieces or because the show had become too bloated to be useful.
Almost everyone agreed that good or bad, sales were being affected by politics, with more conservative customers spending the most and more liberal customers shying away from big purchases. However, by mid-May and early June, even the stores that had been seeing poor results began to recover, and with renewed optimism, retailers on both sides of the political fence were hopeful for positive numbers throughout the remainder of 2017.
SALES ARE IMPROVING
Some retailers, such as Penn Fix, president, Dodson’s Jewelers in Spokane, Washington, were pleased to see strong sales and credited the positive results to long-standing relationships and a good merchandise mix. “We’re up for the year and doing just fine,” he said. “We’re very happy. For us, the most important thing is to maintain relationships with our customers and have the right merchandise when they need it. And we don’t rely on brands. I see ourselves as storytellers and everything we have must have a story. So the twin pins for us are relationships and our merchandise.”
Sales were also extremely strong in Alabama, where Benny McNair, owner of McNair Jewelers in Gadsden, Alabama, saw significant boosts, which he attributed to the current political climate. “This past year we were up 39 percent,” he said. “The election helped tremendously on the thought process, because it’s all a perception issue. It affects the stock market and long-term investments and it affects how people buy. I’m hearing this all across the country. After the election, things started looking up, and we started noticing the biggest increases in the last four months of 2016, and into the beginning of 2017. Now in the summer, there’s a bit of a downturn, as always, because sometimes people spend money on trips in the summer and not on jewelry. But this always happens and that’s to be expected.”
Not every jeweler was seeing such impressive numbers, but even the ones who were navigating bumpy months felt optimistic. “The year has been an interesting year so far,” said Eric Wagner, co-owner of Showcase Jewelers, with two stores in Kansas. “We have one month up and the next down in the Hays location, but have at least leveled out and feel as though we’re starting to work our way back up just a bit. The Salina location, about 90 miles away, has been trending up almost the entire year, which is exciting for the Hays location, because that tends to follow them up about six to 12 months later. I hope this means that we are going to have a much better fall.”
The year was also patchy for Jim Jessop, owner of Jessop Jeweler in San Diego, California, though he said things were beginning to pick up. “It started very slow,” he said. “That created a lot of concern on my part, but then in May we began to take off. I think that there is more comfort and confidence in the market now than there was at the beginning of the year. Our new president brought in a lot of uncertainty and the stock market doesn’t understand him. Politics also gave us a little bounce during the 2016 holidays and I blame the ups and downs on our president.”
As the economy began to feel more stable post-election, retailers began to breathe a little easier. “2017 has been good so far,” said Amanda Coleman-Phelps, assistant general manager at Nelson Coleman Jewelers, located in Towson, Maryland, and serving the Greater Baltimore Metropolitan area. “We had a pretty slow January, but have hit our goals in February through May, which is exciting. June is starting off a little behind 2016, but June, July and August have been very big months for us over the past three years, and we expect that they will be again this year, too. With the stock market holding strong, our clients and consumers are confident and are comfortable purchasing.”
THE YEAR AHEAD
For many retailers, the hope was that the rest of the year would good, despite the somewhat rocky start. “I believe 2017 will be a strong year for the jewelry industry,” said Coleman-Phelps. “And although I’m not happy with our political environment, we are still going strong here.”
The real question, then, was when things would level out, rather than if things would level out. “I’m thinking the first eight months of 2017 are going to be a bit rough, but at least leveled out to last year’s numbers,” said Wagner. “We’re playing it safe for the fall, but looking for a much better fall than last year.”
Article from the Rapaport Magazine - July 2017. To subscribe click here.