Gold Jewelry Sales Rise to $14.7 Billion in 1999
By Teresa Novellino
Senior Editor
Web Posted: June 19, 2000.
New York (June 19, 2000)?U.S. retail sales of gold jewelry rose to a record $14.7 billion in 1999, an 8% increase over sales of $13.7 billion in 1998, according to the World Gold Council (WGC). Yellow gold jewelry continued its reign over the gold market, the WGC reported.
"We are pleased and encouraged by the steady growth in U.S. gold jewelry sales over the last three years, with $2.1 billion in incremental sales," said Kitaru Inagaki, World Gold Council regional director of marketing for the Americas and Europe. "New gold design innovation and manufacturing techniques continue to drive consumer interest."
Discount stores led the pack in gold sales, with dollar sales rising 12% and unit sales up 18%, according to the WGC's retail market audit. Independent jewelry stores saw a consistent annual gain of 6% in both dollar sales and unit sales. Department store sales rose 8%, and direct mail and TV shopping saw a 5% increase in dollar sales.
Yellow gold commanded 77% of gold purchases while white gold accounted for 10% of the market, mixed gold 7%, and colored gold 5%.
By jewelry category, earrings surpassed gold necklaces as the top seller, with a retail sales increase of 19% to $2.3 billion in annual sales. Bracelet sales rose 12%, and rings, including wedding rings, increased 4%.
Consumer research conducted by Research International for World Gold Council revealed that gold prices do not play a major role in purchasing decisions.
Only 9% of the respondents said they knew the price.
Independent jewelers had mixed responses when asked whether their own gold sales mirrored the World Gold Council's figures. Several retailers said that women buying jewelry for themselves bolsters gold jewelry sales, but that most couples were buying platinum wedding sets.
"We are selling huge amounts of platinum, but our gold has also increased," said Kim Felts of Felts Fine Jewelry in Tulsa, Okla. "We are seeing ladies, especially, buying gold for themselves. I think it's because ladies are in the working world now and if they wait around for their husbands, they feel they'll be waiting and waiting."
Women feel comfortable buying gold jewelry for themselves at price points of $50 to $250, as opposed to platinum jewelry, with price points of $140 to $450, Felts said.
Others simply prefer the feel of gold.
"So many have worn gold for so long that they can't make that change to the heavier metal," Felts said. "The two-toned jewelry, white and yellow gold, has been huge in Tulsa."
Though platinum was also strong, gold sales went up last year about 11% at Danford Jewelers in Madison, Wis., in part because of market-savvy customers, said owner Dan Danford.
"One of the reasons was the price of gold was down, and people thought it was a good time to buy," Danford said. "Also, women were buying more expensive gold pieces on their own."
His overall sales were up 30%, Danford said.
The increase in gold jewelry sales was helped along by a good year overall, other retailers said.
"We saw an increase in sales for all of our jewelry last year, gold included," said Scott Hamilton of Chatham Jewelers in Chatham, Mass. "We're encountering a lot of interest in white gold and platinum this year."
Designs at the Basel Show this year showed a warming trend toward yellow gold, and the marked retreat of platinum and white gold.
But that trend apparently hasn't hit Hamilton's part of New England yet.
"I think it's too early for us to be seeing that," Hamilton said.
A jeweler in the Southeast said platinum jewelry sales have eclipsed gold jewelry sales over the past year and a half.
"Everybody who comes in asks for platinum," said Steve B. Allen, owner of Allen's Jewelers in Albany, Ga. "The South is slower to get onto trends and even though platinum has been hot for about three years in other parts of the country, we've only been selling it for the past year and a half."
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