Fine Jewelry Sales Prospects For the 2008 Shopping Season

We have all spent months hearing grim news, but as the holidays approach, how will prospective diamond and fine jewelry buyers respond?
In National Jeweler's exclusive holiday jewelry survey, consumers revealed concerns and shared details on holiday spending plans that reflect a sense of caution. The good news is that jewelry, especially gold jewelry, remains on shopping lists, and those in the highest income brackets actually plan to spend more this year.
But, of course, there's bad news too: Many consumers are heading into this holiday season with their confidence sagging amid a backdrop of general economic gloom.
Gasoline and food prices are up, the housing crisis lingers and unemployment is rising, with figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showing that the national unemployment rate was 5.7 percent in July, up from 4.7 percent a year ago.
So it is no surprise that 68 percent of respondents who participated in Consumer Jewelry Buying Survey said they are feeling worse about the state of the economy than they did a year ago, and just 3 percent reported feeling better about it.
And, when asked to identify the No. 1 factor influencing their decision of whether to buy diamond and fine jewelry for the upcoming holiday season, the greatest percentage, 40 percent, indicated they would bypass jewelry because it is not a necessity.
This sticking-to-the-basics attitude reflected in the survey parallels the consumer mindset the National Retail Federation (NRF) is anticipating for the holiday season.
Kathy Grannis, the NRF's manager of media relations, says consumers have held back on discretionary spending this year to concentrate on buying the necessities, a trend that is likely to extend into the yuletide season.
"Most consumers will be a bit more cautious with their spending this holiday season," Grannis says.
That crowd includes survey respondent Tracy Arntson, a college student living in Muskegon, Mich. The 22-year-old says she likes diamonds and silver but other financial obligations-her bills and the high cost of paying for college-take priority over jewelry. The bad economic news of the past year has done little to loosen her purse strings. "I don't feel that much better about the economy going into the holiday season," Arntson says. Hope, change and holiday shopping.