Check out our latest Jewelers’ Confidence Index.
A new month, a more positive outlook. American jewelers were once again feeling more bullish about the state of the industry and their operations, with the INSTORE Jewelers’ Confidence Index climbing to 53 in the first part of June, up from last month’s neutral reading of 50. The latest result means the JCI has been in positive territory for five of the six months in the first half of 2017.
In our most recent survey, 39 percent of the 256 independent jewelers polled said the prospects for their businesses had improved compared to 14 percent who said they’d deteriorated, while the rest said they had remained the same.
Despite this fairly positive assessment, 47 percent of the jewelers said they had ordered less stock in May compared to the same month last year, while 23 percent had ordered more. Those two factors – outlook and actual orders – form the basis of our index.
As for actual sales performance in May, the news is mostly good. Forty-seven percent of the Brain Squad said their numbers were “up” or “way up” compared to 31 percent who said they were “down” or “way down” over the same period last year. Twenty-two percent said they were about the same.
This article is an INSTORE Online extra.