Modern Jewelry Trends

A new World Gold Council consumer advertising campaign that launches in May will use an iconic gold bar to connect gold’s symbolic meaning with its contemporary appeal. Each ad features a gold bar engraved with a message conveying the precious metal’s role in the culture: like “Only Gold is Divine” or “Only Gold Signifies True Power.” The ads target the self-purchasing woman with an emotional rationale for buying gold and feature high-end designer pieces from Temple St. Clair, Gurhan, and SeidenGang.

“These ads are about the history and culture of gold meeting the contemporary usage of gold,” explains Michael Pace, WGC Vice President, Marketing USA. “It also touches on the investment rationale that is going on in peoples’ minds, especially when the price of gold is strong like it is today.” The campaign will initially appear in 17 leading fashion and lifestyle publications in May and June 2007, including Elle, Harper’s Bazaar, InStyle, Real Simple, Town & Country, Vanity Fair, Vogue, and W and will continue in the fourth quarter with additional executions and partners.

GoldVish, the luxury phone company that is affiliated with sightholder Dianish, will exhibit in Basel this year, displaying a million-euro diamond encrusted phone that is the ultimate in over-the-top functional luxury. The diamond-encrusted TV and the diamond iPod headphones are just publicity stunts in comparison, as GoldVish’s business model actually seems to be working (although the million-euro phone is definitely aimed at the large press contingent in Basel.) “GoldVish is ready to expand, market, and distribute the most exclusive cell phone brand on a global scale,” says Michel Morren, company founder. “There is no better location to take this important step than at Baselworld, the world’s leading show for the watch and jewelry industry.”

Wall Street bonuses hit record levels this year, increasing an average of 15% to 20% to $23.9 billion, according to a New York State estimate. A recent survey by wealth-research firm Prince & Associates of Redding, Connecticut, of how 200 Wall Street professionals spent there bonuses shows that watches and jewelry were high on the list. The 200 bankers, who received 2006 bonuses of $2 million or more, shows how significant this group is for high-end jewelry sales in the region. Bankers surveyed spent an average of 11.2% of their bonuses on watches and jewelry, or a minimum of $200,000 for the lowest paid bankers in the survey. That’s a lot of Patek Philippe watches.  In fact the richest half of the bankers surveyed, those who took home bonuses of $5 million or more, spent 16 percent on watches and jewelry. These hard-driving professionals are unlikely to spend on travel, since they don’t take long vacations.  The only categories of spending that were more attractive than watches and jewelry were fine art, 11.9%, and purchases of residences, 16.1%.

Wish that jewelry could attract as much buzz as the luxury electronics that now dominate the holidays? Jewelers are joining in, creating jewels for your electronics. (If you can’t beat ‘em….) Last month I told you about some diamond encrusted iPod headphones. Now a jewelry brand has hitched its diamonds to the flat-screen TV. New York-based A. Link has created a diamond-encrusted frame for the one-millionth Philips Ambilight FlatTV. The television features 2,200 diamonds totaling 225 carats of diamonds in a floral pattern. The Ambilight television surrounds the screen with ambient light that automatically adapts in color and intensity according to the changing content on the screen, resulting in a more immersive experience. (It’s also very nice for enhancing the sparkle if your Ambilight happens to be encrusted with thousands of diamonds.) The bling TV will be exhibited around the world to Philips customers, employees and consumers before being auctioned off in late 2007 with the proceeds donated to charity.

In the brand’s first appearance on QVC, a new Tacori collection with the company’s signature style in sterling silver and cubic zirconia sold out in 18 minutes last Saturday: one of the fastest sell-outs in QVC history. The 14 styles in the new Tacori for Epiphany collection, which is exclusive to QVC, were scheduled for a one-hour show. Nearly 30,000 items were sold in that 18 minutes. There were 4,000 callers on the line ready to purchase before the show started and 4,000 callers on the line for every minute of the Tacori show. Tacori is known for its intricately detailed bridal pieces. The new QVC Tacori for Epiphany collection features Diamonique, QVC’s brand of simulated gemstones, and Epiphany, its line of platinum-clad sterling silver, at retail prices from $50 to $200. Highlights of the Tacori for Epiphany collection include an eternity tennis bracelet, eternity bands, stud earrings and pieces featuring the “Bloom Cut,” an original cut with facets resembling the blooming petals of a flower. Although many retailers might be alarmed that a high-end bridal brand might become known for imitation jewelry, the show introduced the Tacori brand to an audience of 90 million households. “QVC viewers have a high household income and buy more frequently, and in more diverse places, than your average woman. TV appearances such as these have proven to increase foot traffic at traditional retail locations from customers who now have a real connection with Tacori,” says Michele Adorjan of Tacori.

What do women want for Valentine’s Day and what do they expect? According to a new survey of 3,000 women by Jewelry.com, these are sadly two very different things. Not surprisingly for a survey on a jewelry site, more than half, 53.5% of women surveyed, wanted jewelry on February 14. But only 14% expected to receive it. A mere 1.8% actually wanted a card but 18% said they expected to receive a card. And while there was no one who said they wanted nothing for Valentine’s Day, 18.4% answered that they expected to receive . . . well, nothing. “Cupid clearly has a lot of work to do,” said Virginia Halevi, editor-in-chief of the jewelry site, which attracts an average of 3.5 million unique visitors a month. “In addition to low expectations, the biggest and most surprising finding of this survey is that most women feel Valentine’s Day could be the best occasion to truly love themselves.” According to Halevi, the Jewelry.com survey showed that women are willing to buy themselves the Valentine’s Day gift they really want: 68.5% of the women polled said they would consider buying themselves a Valentine’s Day present this year and 49.75% said the gift they would buy themselves would be jewelry (with 54.55% willing to spend over $50). “This self-purchase attitude on the most sentimental of holidays appears to be part of a growing trend,” Halevi says.

Tattoo Your Diamond, an unusual diamond brand by sightholder Dalumi, will soon be available in the United States. The brand is in its third year in Italy, where it is sold exclusively through diamond wholesaler Laudiam. The “tattoo” is a personalized message engraved on the girdle of the diamond. Settings are designed to reveal the message and consumers are given a magnifying glass so they can read the message. So OK, laser engraved girdles are nothing new, although Dalumi’s service does allow customers to have the message engraved in their own handwriting. But, let’s face it, a diamond tattoo is just so much cooler and more romantic than a laser engraving. Until the brand is available here (Dalumi has, up to this point anyway, been looking unsuccessfully for one large retail partner to bring the brand to the U.S.) you can just use the tattoo concept to help younger customers understand (and covet) a laser-engraved message.

As expected, with luxury booming, holiday sales at Tiffany & Co. were strong this year, increasing 15 percent to $818 million. Sales in November and December were strong across the board, in the U.S. and overseas in all divisions. U.S. retail sales increased 12 percent to $432 million. Comparable store sales rose 8 percent, including a 15 percent increase at the flagship store in New York. Both the number and average amount of transactions increased. Michael J. Kowalski, chairman and chief executive officer, said “We saw healthy sales increases in many product categories ranging from diamonds to silver jewelry.” Tiffany plans to open five to seven new stores in the United States in 2007.

The important numbers for the holiday season are coming in, with many major retailers releasing holiday sales results today. The International Council of Shopping Centers reported that November and December same-store sales were up around 3 percent from 2005, which is a percentage point lower than original estimates. Visa estimated holiday spending growth (including restaurants, travel and other spending) of 6.5 percent (also down a percent from previous estimates). Visa said the average sale at retail stores declined 1 percent. According to MasterCard’s SpendingPulse survey, retail sales rose 3 percent from 2005, the smallest gain since the survey started in 2003. Electronics and luxury goods had the strongest sales, according to the SpendingPulse survey.
Most jewelry retailers had modest sales growth this year. The Zale Corporation reported same-store sales rose 2.3 percent for November and December. Total revenue rose 3.7 percent to $905 million. Although the Zales brand gained sales momentum, margins were slim thanks to “more aggressive pricing and increased promotional activity,” the company said. Sterling’s results are expected to be better: we’ll know next week.
The big winners? No surprise: luxury retailers had the best growth, once again. (Tiffany releases what are expected to be impressive results on January 10.) Online jewelry sales, like all online sales, increased dramatically, the third year of more than 20 percent growth. According to comScore Networks, online retail spending for the two months rose 26 percent to $24.6 billion. According to comScore Networks, retail e-commerce now accounts for about 7 percent of consumers’ retail spending (more than $100 billion, not including travel.)
Department store winners were Saks, with an 11 percent increase, Nordstrom with 9 percent, and Neiman Marcus, 7.1 percent.
After a dip in sales in November, world’s largest retailer Wal-Mart squeezed out 1.6 percent growth in December. The nation’s second largest retailer, Federated Department Stores Inc., reported a 4.4 percent increase in same-store sales for December 2006. Total sales fell 8.5 percent to about $5 billion for five weeks ending December 30. For both November and December combined, Federated reported same-store sales increased 5.7 percent.
Retailer J.C. Penney Company reported same-store sales for the five weeks ending December 30 rose 2.6 percent. J.C. Penney noted that both fine and fashion jewelry experienced strong sales performance.
The star of the discount world was Costco, which had 9 percent growth, although 3 percent of that was due to a calendar quirk that added a day to the month.
Finlay Enterprises Incorporated, which operates fine jewelry counters at department stores, reported same-store sales for November and December rose 1.6 percent.

This holiday season, online retailers of jewelry and watches were one of the biggest winners. According to estimates by comScore Networks, online sales of jewelry and watches were up a staggering 66 percent this holiday season. In fact jewelry and watches were the fastest growing product category for online sales. During the first 50 days of the holiday season, total online retail spending reached $21.68 billion, a 26 percent increase from 2005.