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The Centurion 2020 Holiday Sales Success Index, Week Three: Luxury Jewelers Post Huge Gains, Again | December 23, 2020 (0 comments)
Merrick, NY—In any year, the kind of results of The Centurion’s 2020 Holiday Sales Success Index have been posting would be impressive, but in a year like this, they’re truly astounding. For the third week in a row, respondents to our survey are performing exceptionally well—even more so than in the first two surveys. Almost three-fourths of respondents to this week’s survey, covering the period from December 13 to 20, reported sales gains over the same timeframe last year—with 50% of all respondents indicating their sales gains were significant (10% or more) over the same period last year.
8% of the respondents were up moderately, defined as gains between 5% and 10%. (By comparison, the National Retail Federation estimates holiday sales to rise between 3.6% and 5.2% this year.) 17% of Centurion respondents are up slightly, between 1% and 5%, and another 8% say sales are even with last year which, if you recall, was a record year for luxury jewelers.
16% of respondents, however, said sales over the third week of the season dropped from last year; anywhere from slightly to significantly. Although no jewelers specifically cited weather as an issue impacting sales, it is worth noting that a major winter storm slammed the eastern seaboard last Wednesday through Friday, dumping ice and snow that in some areas was measured in feet, not inches.
How Was Business For The Third Week Of The 2020 Holiday Season, December 13-20?
Of course, much has changed from last year. We asked respondents to list some of the biggest shifts in holiday shopping patterns, and here’s what jewelers had to say (jewelers could choose multiple answers, so responses total more than 100%):
- More than half of respondents said their stellar numbers came from fewer but much bigger sales (orange bar) and a few lucky ones even said they’re making both more and bigger sales!
- 50% of respondents said customers are doing much more online pre-shopping on their own, then finishing the transactions by phone or in person (blue bar).
- Not surprisingly, more than half (58%) of respondents also said their salespeople are working the phones, emails, and texts much more than in prior years to make their numbers or assist customers (yellow bar).
- One quarter of respondents—a noteworthy amount—said they’re getting smaller tickets but higher volume to make their numbers (purple bar).
- Interestingly, no respondents are still operating as appointment-only--but equally so, nobody said it's "business as usual" with no significant changes this year.
How Have Any Of Your Typical Holiday Shopping Patterns Shifted This Year?
Next week: The final Centurion 2020 Sales Success Index survey will examine the season in total.