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New York, NY—The Plumb Club has just released the findings of a new research project, a multi-focused study titled The Plumb Club Industry & Market Insights 2021. Image: The study explored the typical spend for fine jewelry among consumers.

The study pulls together information and statistics on the state of the global jewelry market and then focuses on the U.S. jewelry industry, segmenting consumer demographics, characteristics, psychographics, and emerging trends. It also contains a comprehensive consumer insights section, gathered via a quantitative consumer survey. The project was undertaken during the first half of this year with the goal of gathering the most comprehensive consumer perspectives on jewelry-related topics. 

Key findings include:

• 33% of respondents rate a retailer’s website as the number-one influencer of a jewelry purchase. The influence of family and friends came in second, at 30%, and social media advertising, third, at 14%. 
• When it comes to the reason for a new jewelry purchase, 48% of respondents cited special occasions, but almost one-fourth (23%) said “no reason needed.” 12% said personal reward, 8% because they had seen similar items on celebrities or in magazines, and 8% because they had seen similar items on friends. In the aggregate, the number of reasons to purchase without an occasion (28%) may underscore the growth of the self-purchase category. Self-purchase also ranked high, at 40%, when asked about “jewelry purchase motivations.” 
• Quality (31%), Design (23%) and Uniqueness (17%) are noted as the most important factors when looking for jewelry, with price ranking below all of these factors at 16%. 
• As for where consumers purchase jewelry, 63% say they prefer to purchase in-store, with 25% specifically saying an independent jeweler. 28% of participants said they prefer to purchase online. 
• When participants were asked to rank on a scale from one to 10 how important it is to them that their jewelry is responsibility sourced, sustainable, and ethical, 20% rated this consideration a 10, most important, with an average ranking of 6.5. 72% of respondents saying they would be willing to pay more for a piece that was sustainably sourced and more than one-fourth (26%) said they would pay “a great deal” more.
• According to the survey, $1,207 is the average spent on a new jewelry purchase, and 57% of those surveyed say that the availability of financing would influence their decision.  

Above: The ability to finance a jewelry purchase was a motivator for slightly more than half of respondents. Below, more findings from the study, including that retailer websites are the number-one influencer of jewelry purchases (left table). Images: The Plumb Club Industry & Market Insights 2021.

The study was done with the participation of The Futurist, Paola DeLuca, a recognized thought-leader, trend-forecaster and researcher within the luxury industry, with the support of Qualtrics, a quantitative statistical analysis/survey firm. The consumer survey sampled over 1000 men and women ages of 25-60, with a focus on 10 test markets across the United States. Respondents had all attended some college or higher, had a combined household income of at least $75,000/year and claimed to have either purchased jewelry in the past year and/or were intending to purchase jewelry in the upcoming year.