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Gold, Silver Jewelry To See Biggest Discounts On Black Friday - WalletHub.com
By Neils Christensen of Kitco NewsMonday November 24, 2014 12:58 PM
(Kitco News) - According to one retail sector survey, jewelry could be the hot-ticket item on Black Friday as this category will see the biggest discounts on average.
WalletHub.com recently reviewed Black Friday advertising from 22 retailers; in total the website scanned more than 5,500 deals and according to their research, on average jewelry will see discounts of 58% this year. The second-place category is books, movies and music as consumers can expect to see average discounts of about 52%. In Last place, according to the research, is the category for computers and phones, which will see average discounts of 30%.
The report adds that the Kmart will have the biggest jewelry sales of the season with discounts of 78.75%. Meijer comes in second place with discounts of 78.67%; JCPenny’s jewelry discounts will be 66.40%; Macy’s will have discounts of 65.94% and rounding out the top five is AAFES, which will have discounts of 33.61%.
Jewelry demand, especially in the U.S., has been a bright spot for gold demand in 2014. According to the World Gold Council, jewelry demand in the U.S. increased 4% in the third quarter, compared to the third quarter of 2013. In September, the council also said that U.S. jewelry demand accounted for 26.1 metric tons of gold during the first half of the year, a 15% rise compared to the first six months of 2013.
According to some industry experts, an improving U.S. economy along with lower gold prices is making the jewelry market attractive to consumers.
In a September interview with Kitco News, Amanda Gizzi, director of public relations and special events for Jewelers of America, a national trade association for businesses serving the fine jewelry retail marketplace, said consumers now want to buy new jewelry after selling their pieces when the yellow metal was trading at record highs.
However, larger retailers with jewelry departments like Kmart and JCPenny have not benefited from the stronger demand, said Jill Gonzalez, spokesperson at WalletHub. She explained that according to their research, jewelry sales in department stores are down 2.6% so far this year; in October alone department store jewelry stories fell about 2%, compared to October 2013, to about $13 billion in sales. Gonzalez added that she suspects this weak performance is one of the reasons why this section will see the biggest discounts on Friday.
“Our research shows that the jewelry departments of these large retailers are typically the weakest,” she said. “Retailers see Black Friday as: one to promote sales within this department and two to give themselves a final boost in its jewelry sales.”
Gonzalez also noted other factors behind the steep discounts including the fact that jewelry products have some of the highest markups in the retail sector. And finally she added that large retailers are maybe offering these discounts to compete with the niche jewelry stores, which WalletHub didn’t include in its Black Friday sales research.
“A lot of people think department story ‘I will get a new TV there or I will stock up on some clothing gifts.’ They don’t really think of jewelry and that is what department stores are trying to change by offering discounts of almost 60%,” she said.
Looking at discounts across the board, the research shows that JCPenney will offer the best holiday deals as consumers can expect to see average discounts of 65.44% this year. Macy’s comes in second place with average discounts of 53.52%.
Surprisingly, the research shows that two major retails Wal-Mart and Amazon will offer some of the lowest discounts on average. Wal-Mart was in 18th place, as it will offer average discounts of 32.16%. Amazon was even lower on the list coming in at 20th place with average discounts of 26.10%.
Related Stories:
- US Gold-Jewelry Purchases Rise As Some Consumers Seek Luxury
- Gold, Silver Demand Strong As Middle East Jewelry Fair Reports Record Growth
- WGC: Q3 Total Gold Demand Drops 2% Year-Over-Year To 929.3 Tons, Down Vs Previous Quarter
By Neils Christensen of Kitco News; nchristensen@kitco.com
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