Jewelers are choosing lower price points
By Michelle Graff and Hannah Connorton www.nationaljeweler.com
When it comes to stocking inventory for the holiday season, many jewelers are choosing merchandise with relatively lower price points, hoping to attract customers still apprehensive about spending.
Sterling silver is a popular inventory choice for many jewelers, while others are making sure they have plenty of diamond and bridal jewelry offerings after an increase in sales. Some jewelers are seeing customers buying “a little bit of everything,” prompting the stock of mostly moderately-priced pieces.
This is National Jeweler’s fourth story in the weekly Exclusive Retail Spotlight series, which focuses on a specific trend influencing the retail jewelry market. This week, jewelers discussed inventory.
NORTHEAST
While David Rotenberg, president of David Craig Jewelers in Langhorne, Pa., is stocking inventory in multiple categories, many of his customers have been asking for pearls.
“Pearls had been sitting on the shelf for a while, and all of a sudden, they’re selling,” Rotenberg said. “We’re delighted.”
The jeweler said he’s been selling freshwater pearl bracelet and necklace combinations, as well as a pair of pearl earrings, a pearl pendant mounted with diamonds and a strand of Akoya pearls. In addition, he’s stocking bridal, colored stone jewelry, diamond jewelry, platinum and sterling silver for the holiday season.
“Sales, so far, are across the board,” Rotenberg said, noting a new sterling silver and cubic zirconia line that has “taken off.”
One thing he’s noticed, Rotenberg said, are fewer consumers asking for Pandora. He doesn’t carry the brand. But a store in the same plaza he’s located in does, and three to six people a day used to come in asking Rotenberg about the line.
“Over the weekend--my busiest weekend to date--only one or two people asked for it,” he said, “I’m absolutely delighted that the public has had enough.”
Rotenberg added that the item selling the least were plain gold chains. “Plain gold is on the outs,” he said.
It’s all about diamonds at Evan James Ltd. in Brattleboro, Vt. President Evan James Deutsch said he’s stocking “a lot” of diamond items under $1,000, including diamond studs and fashion diamond jewelry.
“Our inventory is large and diverse, but I wanted to make sure we had plenty of under $1,000 diamond items on hand,” Deutsch said. “You can take somebody who wanted to spend three or four hundred, and you show them something that’s six or seven hundred, and with the discount it comes within $100 of what they can spend.”
The discount Deutsch refers to is his “Renovation Celebration,” which will offer customers 20 to 40 percent off merchandise storewide.
“The elevator ride up is harder than the one down is, so we are trying to make sure the elevator stays on the top floor,” the jeweler said.
Deutsch said he’s also stocking a lot of sterling silver jewelry in the $79-$199 price range. Even with lower priced items in the store, he said merchandise selling “has really just been a smattering of everything.”
The jeweler sold a $1,000 gold chain on Sunday, “and watches have been strong so far.” The one category that hasn’t been moving much, he said, is colored stones.
“I don’t think it’s time to make any kind of judgments yet,” Deutsch said. “As the season moves on, colored jewelry could still start to move.”
SOUTHEAST
Stocking the same inventory but increasing the amount is the strategy for Phil Silverstein, founder of Phil’s Jewelers in Anderson, S.C.
“We mostly stock very heavy in sterling silver,” Silverstein said. “It’s a combination of regular silver and silver with stones. The heavy, tailored silver look is selling.”
Timepieces have also been popular for the jeweler, who carries brands such as Seiko, Citizen and Belair.
“The Eco-Drive is a good selling point for the Citizen watches, and people want specialty watches, too,” Silverstein said.
He added that he expects men’s jewelry to picking up, specifically in rings and cufflinks.
Products that aren’t selling in the store include inexpensive jewelry and small giftware, such as cups and saucers, candlesticks and other tableware. The regular buyers of this merchandise, Silverstein said, aren’t shopping, “they’re running scared.”
“I think that will change,” he said, “Those people will likely buy something in the end.”
Stuart Goodman of Goodman & Sons Jewelers in Hampton and Williamsburg, Va., said he’s well stocked across all categories, especially in diamonds.
“We’ve got a lot of Hearts on Fire, and we’re very well-stocked in basic diamond programs,” Goodman said. “But we aren’t stocking big diamonds, just around 1 carat. We’re not trying to put in things that we don’t think our market will sell. We are being conservative about moving into the high end.”
The jeweler said his Metal Marketplace line, which he has only had for a couple of months, has been very well received, as the company “has really got their act together” and is effective in marketing and advertising.
Pandora beads are still driving the line at his store, with the brand’s jewelry still a minority percentage of actual business.
“We’re glad we got into the line,” Goodman said. “It’s been a growth market for us all the way through.”
MIDWEST
Sterling-silver beads from the brand Reflections are still a popular buy at Metal Works Fine Jewelry Inc. in Yorktown, Ind., said owner Gene Gragg.
Customers like the fact that they can buy several beads and still not spend a fortune, a trend that is buoying sales for sterling silver jewelry across the board at the store.
“That’s what people seem to be looking for,” he said.
Not selling as well is jewelry crafted of alternative metals. “I don’t have a lot of it, but I don’t have a lot of people asking for it either,” he said. “They (customers) just don’t understand the value of it. It’s not gold or silver so they really don’t think it’s valuable.”
Customers at Garfinkles Fine Jewelry in Highland Park, Ill., have been gravitating toward jewelry with an eastern flair.
“Mostly what’s sold for me this year was Indian and Turkish jewelry,” Jill Garfinkle said.
Customers are favoring pieces with touches of 24-karat gold or 18-karat gold pieces designed to give the appearance of being crafted in 24-karat gold.
Also moving well are items priced at $500 and below, while sales of higher-priced items remain sluggish.
“They’re not buying as many white diamonds,” Garfinkle said.
SOUTH CENTRAL
Charriol’s stainless steel stackable bracelets priced between $420 and $595 a piece were among the best-sellers last year at Naifeh Fine Jewelry in Oklahoma City. So it’s no wonder that when it came time to place orders for this holiday season, owner Valerie Naifeh stocked up the brand’s fresh styles for the season.
Also in are sterling silver meditation bells from Paul Morelli, where prices start at $225, and the new charm collection from popular designer Temple St. Clair.
Naifeh said she expects the bulk of her sales this holiday season to take place in the $400-to-$2,500 range, slightly higher than last year due to the higher cost of diamonds and gold.
“We’ll have some larger sales as well, but that’s where our volume will be,” she said.
She said she doesn’t expect to sell many “chunky” gold pieces due to the metal’s high price and expects that sales of rings with large colored gemstones, between 8 and 10 carats, will continue to be slow.
“What I’ve seen in the past three years is that people want something that’s of quality and well-made with a good jewelry design, but they don’t want it to get over-the-top obnoxious,” Naifeh said.
At Barnes Jewelry in Amarillo, Texas, Jeff Fox said he opted to stock up on bridal jewelry and larger loose diamonds as the category was building momentum heading into the fourth quarter.
It was, as it turns out, a good call.
“They have been selling,” he said.
Also popular are the new introductions from designer John Hardy, whose designs are primarily sterling silver. “That has just been crazy good,” he said.
Fox said the continued popularity of sterling lines such as John Hardy is attributable to the continued high cost of gold, which was about $1,723 an ounce as of Monday afternoon. He said gold sales continue to lag at this store this holiday season, as they have done for the past couple of years.
WEST
At Hart Jewelers in Grants Pass, Ore., owner Tom Hart opted to order items in the $200-to-$700 range knowing that those price points would be popular among customers this holiday season.
The store ordered items from Hot Diamonds and silver line bastian inverun. Hart said they also stocked up on colored diamonds, especially brown, and now have an entire showcase dedicated to the product.
As for what people are buying to date, Hart said it’s “been just a little bit of everything.”
What he doesn’t seem moving are the higher-end items, priced at $10,000 and above.
At Cheryl Burchell Goldsmiths in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, the store’s eponymous owner stocked up on smaller diamond pendants, small diamond fashion rings, silver and a variety of colored gemstone jewelry for the holiday season.
“Everything in the store is moderately priced,” Burchell said.
She anticipates customers will spend between $250 and $2,500 on holiday gifts this season. “It used to be more than that, but not anymore,” Burchell said.
What she doesn’t expect to move is anything over $5,000. “That’s the high end right now,” she said.
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