Millennials spend more on jewelry than any other age group
- Consumers aged 25 to 34 spend 28% more on fine jewelry than the average household.
- Consumers are buying more jewelry but spending less per piece.
- US fine jewelry sales reached $68.8 billion.
- Watch sales rose 7.7% to $9.13 billion.
- Jewelry purchases are spreading throughout the year, with holiday-season sales declining 1.2%.
A report released today by Edahn Golan Diamond Research & Data reveals that, for the first time, millennials spent more on fine jewelry than any other age group. During the past year, consumers aged 25 to 34 spent 28% more on fine jewelry than the average household. They are not the only younger consumers changing their buying habits: spending on jewelry by consumers under the age of 25 doubled between 2003 and 2013.
Driven in part by this increased demand, jewelry sales rose 1.4% over the past year. Fine jewelry sales in the US, the world’s largest fine jewelry market, reached $68.8 billion in 2014. Watches were a particularly strong category, with sales increasing 7.7% to $9.13 billion. Average household spending on fine jewelry reached a record $434. Including watches, average annual spending rose to $612 per household.
While consumers are buying more jewelry than ever, they are spending less on each item. They are also changing where they shop, with specialty jewelers losing market share while online retailers continue to gain ground.
Consumers are also spreading their purchases more evenly throughout the year rather than concentrating them during the traditional holiday season. In 2014, holiday-season jewelry sales declined 1.2%, although it remained the industry’s busiest selling period.
“The US State of the Jewelry Market Report contains data never before available to the diamond industry, including detailed demographic analysis of who is buying jewelry, what they are buying, and how much they are spending. It shows that millennials, today’s 20- to 35-year-olds, are driving demand for diamond jewelry differently than previous generations. They are spending more while paying less per item in a market with an unprecedented range of choices,” said Edahn Golan, global diamond industry analyst and author of the report.
The full US State of the Jewelry Market Report is available here.
For more state of the jewelry market reports, please contact Edahn Golan.