Luxury Trends

The jewelry industry has grown rapidly and global sales are expected to grow at a 6% rate each year, reaching up to €250 billion in 2020 (McKinsey 2019). once seen only as a gift purchase is now treated differently, with 21st century consumers buying luxury items simply for their pleasures (McKinsey 2019).

As the market continues to grow; the consumer for the segment becomes clearer on what they want, and how they want to receive it. According to a survey done by the McKinsey Group, two thirds of luxury shoppers claim they participate in online research pre-purchase; mainly via social media. Another increasing trend is that the fine jewelry Another market trend emerges to be “hybrid consumption” ; a term described by McKinsey (2019) as a behaviour of mixing different pricepoint items together in jewelry; McKinsey advices on exploring cheaper price point items by fine jewelry makers to ensure target diversity.

Online fine jewelry sales are expected to grow up to 10% in 2020 thanks to the availability provided by brands such as Blue Nile and TIffany & Co.

LOUIS VUITTON FINE JEWELRY

Brands like Louis Vuitton enter fine jewelry market. With the increase in the sales of branded jewelry, fashion brands take advantage.

Figure 1: Graph, McKinsey Consulting 2020

The rise in sales of branded jewelry has increased and is expected to increase even more in 2020.

LUXURY TRENDS II

LUXURY TRENDS II

Demi-fine segment that has been becoming increasingly profitable in the past couple years ultimately defines a positioning between a fine jewelry sold at high prices and jewelry made of other metals sold at slightly lower prices; usually between 250 to 1000$. (Berezhna 2017).

The trend has risen in parallel to the rise of the Millennial and Gen Z consumer who both prefer to express individuality through style; creating a freedom to stack up jewelry pieces. Sarah Blair (2017), Senior Vice President at Barney’s explains “These designers reach a broad demographic and scope. They are a great introduction to fine jewelry for the younger clients who are just beginning to collect.”

De Beers’ Diamond Insight Report (2014) indicates that millennials and Gen Z combined account for two-thirds of global fine jewelry sales.

The new ‘phygical’ age is combining the best of both worlds when it comes to retail - ability to use the social media to provide advice and information about products while the comfort of the physical shops remain for in-person exploration (Hailes 2018). Over 60% of women in the Unites States alone search the internet for product information prior to purchasing diamonds to explore and compare between prices and designs, while the figure reaches 98% in Chinese shoppers.

Millennials and Gen Z are humanitarian generations, according to Forbes (2017) Millennials have already surpressed the charitable donations done by baby boomers. Millennials and Gen Z prefer to pick brands they can share beliefs with, brands that are providing an emotional value pre and post-purchase rather than simply a product. 7/10 American Millennialls consider a company’s values before making a purchase; and that number is 52% in online sales. Millennials prefer to stand behind brands they can feel value towards. McKinsey (2018) also stresses on demifine jewelry trend; and advises brands to step out of their comfort zones and take initiative towards more affordable collections; and introduce the younger target to the brand in such manner.