Question: Based on the first 8 months of this year, how do you expect your total revenues for 2022 will compare to 2021?
DESPITE THE CURRENT economic uncertainty, nearly one in two independent jewelers is still expecting to post revenue growth this year, according to the 2022 Big Survey.
More than one-third of the survey participants said they expected their revenue to show some growth while a further 11% predicted their sales would be “Way Up” (20% or more), based on their store’s performance in the first eight months of the year. Slightly more than one in five said they expected revenue to decline, while the rest were expecting sales to come in flat (see Table 1).
The expected growth is all the more impressive given 2021 was a historically strong year with almost 60% of independent jewelers reporting sales of $1 million or more. That compares with just 38% in 2016. The biggest drivers of the growth appear to be custom design work, bridal mountings and sales of loose diamonds, which jewelers said were accounting for a larger and larger share of their revenue (see Table 2). The lift from custom design was particularly noticeable with 81% of jewelers saying it had grown as a share of revenue in the last 10 years. On the flip side, 37 percent of jewelers said the contribution from Watches had shrunk in the last 10 years.
Question: Over the last 10 years, has the percentage of total business grown, stayed stable or shrunk in the following categories?
To be sure, the most important part of the year still lies ahead for most jewelers with the economy poised at a tenuous junction – interest rates and inflation are rising, consumer sentiment is softening although the labor market also remains surprisingly robust. The 2022 Big Survey, to be published in our November edition, looked at many of these areas of concern for jewelers and what they are doing to address them. Over the next few weeks we will continue to publish the results of the survey, which was taken by over 750 North American jewelry store owners and managers.