Big Survey

Jewelers Finally Get Better at Closing the Band Sale

INSTORE 2021 Big Survey finds more than 6 out of 10 jewelers get the band sale most of the time.

Published

4 years ago

November 7, 2021

Chris Burslem

How many customers who buy engagement rings come back to buy wedding rings?

More than half
61%
About half
18%
About a third
9%
About a quarter
8%
Less than 10%
3%
Almost none
1%

MORE THAN ANYWHERE else in the world, jewelry retail in America is about the engagement ring sale. That typically one-carat centerstone and its white gold setting also happen to be the glittering centerpiece of the trade, and that goes for just about everyone involved in the business, from the fancy upmarket stores to the suburban mall chains to the little downtown custom shops. With all that focus on the diamond and the setting, it’s perhaps not surprising that jewelers often forget to push the humble band sale. According to a widely referenced survey by the TheKnot back in the aughts, about half of jewelers don’t get the follow-up sale on the bands, a fact that has driven sales trainers and management consultants mad – surely if a customer trusts you to provide their engagement ring, the band should be a gimme!

Well, we have some good news from the 2021 INSTORE Big Survey – jewelers are getting better at sealing the band sale: More than 60 percent said their engagement ring buyers come back to buy the bands from them more than half the time. Another 18 percent said they get the band sale about half the time, while 21 percent said they secure the band sale about one-third of the time or less.

Sure, it suggests four out of 10 jewelers appear to be leaving money on the table but it’s an improvement.

In other findings in the 2021 Big Survey, 42 percent of jewelers answered “the stone” when we asked them where the money was in an engagement ring sale. That was just ahead of “the setting” (37%) and a long way ahead of “the design work” (11%). In one other finding, almost one in five jewelers said same-sex engagement/wedding ring sales were not accounting for 10 percent of more of their sales in this category.

The 2021 Big Survey was carried out between August and September, attracting almost 600 anonymous responses from owners of independent jewelry stores across the United States and Canada. The full results can be found online here.

Four Decades of Excellence: How Wilkerson Transformed a Jeweler's Retirement into Celebration

After 45 years serving the Milwaukee community, Treiber & Straub Jewelers owner Michael Straub faced a significant life transition. At 75, the veteran jeweler made a personal decision many business owners understand: "I think it's time. I want to enjoy my wife with my grandchildren for the next 10, 15 years." Wilkerson's expertise transformed this major business transition into an extraordinary success. Their comprehensive approach to managing the going-out-of-business sale created unprecedented customer response—with lines forming outside the store and limits on how many shoppers could enter at once due to fire safety regulations. The results exceeded all expectations. "Wilkerson did a phenomenal job," Straub enthuses. "They were there for you through the whole thing, helped you with promoting it, helping you on day-to-day business. I can't speak enough for how well they did." The partnership didn't just facilitate a business closing; it created a celebratory finale to decades of service while allowing Straub to confidently step into his well-earned retirement.