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Exclusive: Holiday sales strong for retailers despite 'Blood Diamond'
December 15, 2006
Jewelers who spoke with National Jeweler today reported strong holiday sales increases this past week, mainly in diamond jewelry, with very little fallout thus far from the release of the movie Blood Diamond.
East Coast and Southeast
Sales remained strong for East Coast and Southeast jewelers as they finished the second week of the holiday shopping season, mainly due to unseasonably warm weather, which encouraged consumers to go out and shop.
"For the week, our numbers were surprisingly strong," says Evan James Deutsch, owner of Evan James Ltd. in Brattleboro, Vt. " Saturday was very good; it was up from the comparable day of the year last year."
Traffic slowed on Sunday, though holiday sales remained solid.
"We're ahead of projections, and we're seeing a lot of enthusiasm," he adds.
But despite the strong sales so far, Deutsch is not yet prepared to call the season a success.
"From this coming Friday on, that is our real holiday season," he says. "These sales are just icing on the cake. We've had a lot of people coming in looking and kicking the tires."
Steven Duvarney of Duvarney Jewelers in Fitchburg, Mass., also had strong holiday sales over the weekend.
"This past weekend was very good," he says. "Last week started out slowly, but Thursday and Friday were very good."
But Duvarney says that although sales have been strong, the last two weeks of the season represent the most important time for his store.
Sales remain strong in custom pieces, engagement rings and Rolex watches, with most customers buying items priced from $4,000 to $8,000.
"When you have traffic in those price points, it doesn't take a lot for the sales to add up," he says. "But of course, the biggest weeks are still to come."
Holiday sales at Allen's Jewelers in Albany, Ga., have increased to-date when compared to last year.
"Our weekly sales were really good," says owner Steve Allen. "Wednesday was a bit slow, but that was about it."
Most of Allen's sales have fallen in the $800 to $2,000 price range.
While Deutsch, Duvarney and Allen all expected to hear some consumer reaction from the release of the movie Blood Diamond, customers seemed more concerned with shopping this weekend.
"I'm in a retail complex with a movie theater that's playing the movie," Deutsch says. "And I haven't heard a thing."
South Central
Retailers in the South Central region remain optimistic as they push forward through the holiday season. Though this weekend's in-store traffic may not have been quite as strong as it was last weekend, retailers found things to be a little more constant.
In San Antonio, Texas, Aaron Penaloza of C. Aaron Penaloza Jewelers says this weekend was considerably slower, but that the store did about even with last year's figures.
"The number of sales was down, but the average [ticket] was up," Penaloza says.
Penaloza attributes healthy dollars to higher tickets, and says a number of recent sales came from special orders.
"We'll have a good December, but half the sales are not things out of the cases," Penaloza says.
Aside from the special orders, estate pieces and diamond earrings sold well. Though his store is not a tourist destination, Penaloza says one interesting sale was made by an out-of-town couple who called the store back after viewing an Art Deco-style ruby and diamond bracelet.
Kelly Newton of Newton's Jewelers in Fort Smith, Ark., found sales to be in line with his expectations.
"This past weekend wasn't crazy busy, but it was constant," he says.
While Journey diamond jewelry had been a big seller for Newton's Jewelers last weekend, diamond solitaire earrings, Lazare Kaplan and Rolex watches were the bigger draws this past week.
Over in Amarillo, Texas, Jeff Fox of Barnes Jewelry said that requests for more traditional pieces continued from the weekend before, with diamond solitaires being one of the top sellers, along with Rolex and TAG Heuer watches.
Fox found the week's sales to be up about 25 percent compared to last year.
As for the recent release of Blood Diamond, retailers haven't heard so much as a peep from customers, although they have been readying their staffs for possible inquiries. Penaloza and Newton have printed materials or coached their salespeople so that they'll know how to respond in case customers have any questions, and Fox has prepared a booklet for his customers.
"We've heard absolutely nothing so far," he says. "It's not a huge thing, we think, but we follow all the guidelines, and we made up a booklet to show them we're playing by the rules, if anybody does inquire."
Fox explains that the booklets include information from Diamondfacts.org as well as samples of invoices from Barnes Jewelry's dealers saying their diamonds are conflict-free and abiding of the Kimberley Process.
Midwest and West Coast
Holiday business appears to be booming in the Midwest and on the West Coast, with in-store events and compelling diamond and sapphire designs getting consumers in the gift-giving spirit this past week.
At Alson Jewelers in Cleveland, Ohio, a rock 'n' roll-themed "girls' night out" last Thursday proved very successful, as about 130 of the store's female clientele ate appetizers and sipped martinis while filling out wish lists for their significant others. But what was most surprising to owner Chad Schreibman was the amount of self-purchase.
"We had more women make self-purchases than ever before," says Schreibman. "Representatives from David Yurman and John Hardy were in the store for the first time, and we sold new colored-stone pieces and silver and colored-stone combinations in rings, bracelets and necklaces."
Richard T. Velayo, store manager for Gleim Jewelers in Palo Alto, Calif., also had a successful in-store event, this one devoted to watches, in each of his three stores.
"We carry Baume and Mercier, Breitling, Cartier, Cyma and Rolex, and they did well across the board," Velayo says.
Other best sellers last week included classic diamond designs, such as stud earrings, bracelets and "circle" pendants, sapphire earrings and pendants, and Journey diamond pendants, not so much because consumers are aware of the campaign, Velayo says, but because they're pretty.
"Journey diamond pendants have done well at one store more than others, but no one is asking for them as 'Journey' pieces—they're buying them because they're an attractive diamond pendant," Velayo says.
Overall, holiday traffic and sales have picked up at the store from the middle of last week until now.
"People had been just looking. Now they're definitely ready to buy," Velayo says.
Shoppers are also ready to buy at Van Renssalear Jewelers in Billings, Mont., where business has been strong since last week; in fact, it's been busier than last year at this time.
According to owner Steven Morse, the favorable weather has brought customers to his strip-center location when they may have otherwise shopped at the local closed-in mall.
Star sellers at the store have been Yogo sapphires (native to the area) and a few Journey diamond jewelry pieces.
As for fallout from the Blood Diamond movie, retailers in these regions haven't experienced any yet, but they are well prepared to handle any conflict-diamond concerns from customers.
"We've spent a lot of time training the staff in our stores on a daily basis to get comfortable answering consumer questions about conflict diamonds," says Gleim Jewelers' Velayo. "We've used role-play, have binders with questions and answers in place, made copies of sample invoices showing the correct verbiage and printed out facts from Diamondfacts.org."
Editor's Note: To learn how you can maximize your holiday sales, swap ideas with peers in the National Jeweler Network Forum. This story was first published on Dec. 11, 2006.
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