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Product Pulse: How Are Your Gold Jewelry Sales?
Jewelers, see how your gold jewelry sales and margins stack up against other retailers.
New York--Gold jewelry sales have been holding steady for the past three years, according to nearly half the retailers who took National Jeweler’s latest Product Pulse survey.
Conducted in late April/early May, the Pulse polled jewelers about the gold jewelry sales over the past three years.
The highest percentage of respondents (43 percent) said their sales have held steady during that period, while 34 percent saw sales slip and 24 percent reported an increase in gold jewelry sales.
This means that, of all the jewelers who took the survey, 67 percent have seen sales of gold jewelry stay the same or increase over the past three years, a time when Kitco.com data shows that the cumulative average annual price of gold ranged between $1,160 and $1,266 an ounce. The price of the metal has never returned to what it was a decade ago, but it remains well below what it was at height of the recession, when the gold price flirted with $2,000 an ounce.
Quality Gold/Leslie’s, Royal Chain and Gabriel & Co., along with Italian designer brands such as Marco Bicego and Roberto Coin, were among some of the most-listed brands named when National Jeweler asked survey takers about the best-sellers in their stores.
However, just as they did in our bridal poll, a number of respondents said they don’t carry any specific brands.
“We do custom work,” one survey-taker said, while another noted, “We make our own line.”
As far as the quality of gold sold goes, respondents reported that 14-karat gold jewelry outsells 18-karat in their store. Very few--only five, in fact--said 10-karat jewelry was the best seller in their store.
National Jeweler and Jewelers of America conducted their Product Pulse survey between April 25 and May 6. Approximately 127 jewelers responded.
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