Save E-mail

Send this URL to a friend:

* - Denotes a required field.
Your Name*
Your Email Address*
Friend's Name*
Friend's Email Address*
Subject*
Message*

Print

New York--With the price of gold still high and many consumers still carefully watching their spending, independent jewelers have reported seeing an increased interest in silver jewelry at their stores.

Now months into this silver trend, store owners are catching on--advertising the metal more aggressively, pairing silver purchases with premiums, and stocking across a range of price points to suit a financially diverse clientele. Here, jewelers share how sterling silver jewelry fared in their stores for the holiday season.

Silver sales were very good leading up to and through Christmas at Jay Roberts Jewelers in Marlton, N.J., according to owner Jake Spigelman.

“The nice thing about silver is the fact that someone can come in and buy something that’s very substantial, name-branded, has a lot of impact, and doesn’t have to spend a ton of money,” Spigelman said.

If a customer comes in and wants to spend $1,000, there aren’t a lot of options in gold and diamonds, the jeweler said. If they want to put that money towards silver, however, they can end up with a substantial piece.

“The price point has opened up a lot of opportunities for silver in the past couple of years,” Spigelman said.

Carrying David Yurman, Lagos, John Hardy and Steven Webster, among other brands, Spigelman said silver is always a good seller at his store, and that most silver items sold during the holidays were in the $500-$750 range, although some customers spent more for bigger pieces. Silver with gemstones “sold a fair amount,” as well as silver with diamonds.

“The nice thing is, silver fits all the price categories you want to be in,” Spigelman said. “It always does well for the holidays.”

Silver sales also stood out in brick-and-mortar stores that see a lot of its business spread out over the year, as opposed to a dramatic spike during the holidays.

“Silver has really become a strong area, and some people are using touches of gold with it now,” Terry Dickens, an owner of Herteen & Stocker Jewelers in Iowa City, Iowa, said.

While Christmastime is busy for Dickens, he said his location in a college town results in his business being spread out over the year, hitting peaks and valleys depending on when school is in or out. Still, overall silver sales for the holidays was “very strong,” the jeweler said.

“I’ve already started receiving silver jewelry from my designers,” Dickens said. “They’re gearing up for another good year.”

Sterling silver sales were up “significantly” over the holidays at Watchmakers Diamond & Jewelry in Johnstown, Pa., according to owner J. Dennis Petimezas.

“We found more interest in diamonds set in sterling silver,” Petimezas said, “because of the high price of gold, people are looking for alternatives, a certain price point. Substituting silver for gold seems to make a big difference.”

Petimezas said he “read the signals” this year, staying current with market news and insights from trade publications and seminars, which were helpful in making decisions. Expecting silver to do well, he promoted the metal.

“We promoted heavily, especially in a Black Friday flyer that focused on the price point of silver,” the jeweler said. “It got a lot of interest, and we were very surprised at just how strong the demand for it was.”

Petimezas also coupled more expensive selections of silver jewelry with premium giveaways, including iTunes gift cards, iPads, and even a cruise, which came with a higher priced piece of jewelry.

“It was interesting to see that the percentage-off type of marketing seems to be a thing of the past, and now it’s all about value added,” Petimezas said.

Affordability is the main factor when it comes to silver, he added, but there’s also been a transformation of the metal’s perceptive value.

“Technology has kept pace with the transformations,” Petimezas said. “There are more options with sterling now, it’s more retailer friendly.”

And more silver options at a range of affordable price points are what customers want, according to one jeweler.

“Like they say, silver is the new gold,” James Alperin, owner of James Alperin Jewelers in Pepper Pike, Ohio, said.

Silver sales over Christmas picked up at the store, where Alperin carries brands including Thistle & Bee and Hidalgo. He said sales of the metal this year are slightly up over 2010.

“Silver gives you a price point that people are willing to buy a small gift in,” the jeweler said. “It’s priced so that you can make a sale when people don’t want to spend $1,000. They can still buy a nicely designed piece of jewelry for a good price.”

Alperin said he has silver bracelets starting at $18 that are thin and tiny, but a dozen have already been sold, and for his smaller store “that’s a lot.” He said he expects the silver market to grow.

“It’s interesting, white gold and platinum became popular, and there was a big push for it years back, and they became the metals that young people wanted,” Alperin said. “And that made for an easy segue into silver.”

The jeweler said as silver design grow and evolve, manufacturers are making more in the metal, “So it’s almost a self-fulfilling prophecy,” Alperin said. “It snowballs up.”