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The Centurion Holiday Success Index, Week Two: Excellent Results For Prestige Jewelers | December 07, 2016 (0 comments)
Merrick, NY—The 2016 holiday sales season is shaping up to be a very strong one for luxury jewelers. Almost three-fourths of all jewelers responding to the Centurion Holiday Sales Success Survey said their sales in the first full week of the season—November 28 through December 4—were up over the same period last year. 42% reported significant sales gains of more than 10%, while another 30% posted gains between 1% and 9%.
8% of respondents said sales for the week were even with last year, and 20% said the period was stronger last year than this year. Of those, 12.5% saw sharp declines of more than 10%.
Though online shopping smashed retail records for Black Friday and Cyber Monday, it’s still not a key channel for prestige jewelers. When asked about the impact did Cyber Monday had on sales, either on that day or throughout the rest of the week, 48% of respondents said none, as they are neither e-commerce enabled nor did they feel their digital efforts had any significant impact on sales for the week.
Prestige jewelers reported strong sales for the first full week of the 2016 holiday season, November 28 through December 4.
But more than one-third (35%) felt digital efforts did contribute to their overall success, even if they didn’t make direct sales online—and 17% said their online sales were up noticeably from previous years, a respectable figure for a sector of the industry that is not widely e-commerce enabled.
“We do very little business online but we had seven sales this year vs. two last year,” said one respondent in Minnesota. Another echoed a more common theme: “We have a strong social media but saw no sales increase as a result of Cyber Monday.”
Indeed, social media has taken the lead as the most successful vehicle for driving sales—along with traditional telephone outreach to customers. 58% of respondents credited those two efforts with driving most of their results. 50% cited direct mail with driving traffic and sales, and paid social media ads (as opposed to posts) were named by one-third of respondents. (Respondents gave multiple answers so totals exceed 100%).
Interestingly, paid social media has overtaken traditional media—including television—as an effective sales driver for these stores. TV was cited by only 25% of respondents, fewer than the 29% that said outdoor billboards helped to drive traffic.
Other than the telephone, email, e-blasts, and e-newsletters were cited by multiple respondents as a useful direct outreach, and one even said texting was very effective. Here's the total breakout of advertising vehicles respondents found useful:
