Aiming high
High-end, custom-made jewellery pieces and high-end gemstones are in their finest years. Sales for these items are going up right along with their lower-quality counterparts. At this year’s Tucson shows, rows and rows of jewellery sets and even tiaras decorated the numerous cases, all in 14-, 18-, or even 22-karat gold. These pieces proudly demonstrated the world’s jewellery business is still going strong. The higher the price, the more sales are made.
As mentioned, sales of any lower-grade jewellery, along with gemstones that are of commercial quality, are also soaring. The only category left out is the middle class. Now, most vendors cover a vast price range in their dealings, so it’s easy for them to notice which products are being left behind and which work best in their inventory. Middle-priced pieces are having difficult times, as they are never competitive enough for the low-quality market, but also never good enough for the higher market. Could it be time to change our marketing approach? Is the middle-class market going to disappear? Most of the Canadian vendors I met at the show think so, if the trend continues like this in the next few years. It will be a market to oversee.
New habits
“Prepare and adapt” was the main message broadcast in Tucson this year. Vendors are constantly acclimatizing to the ever-changing trends and new discoveries made throughout the year. For example, where white gold was once the queen of the market, yellow gold jewellery is making a comeback in the showcases. Having Ultra Violet as the new Pantone colour of the year helped a lot in this turnaround. After all, what better combination than the complementary match of purple and yellow?
Slowly but surely, we are changing our buying ways, and vendors are changing right along with us. We no longer buy in big quantities or fill our safes with gemstones and ideas for future collections. Today, we mostly buy what we need or what the consumer directly asks for. The vendors have to adapt and have the necessary gemstone on hand at competitive prices.
Some of the more seasoned vendors at this year’s show seemed discouraged by the ever-changing tide of the jewellery industry—especially those that still remember and swear by the old days. However, most of them—particularly the younger generations—have adapted well and thrive in this dynamic environment.
For Canadians like Greg Fraser, who holds the fort for Chan Fraser Design (a two-person company specializing in gem carving and custom jewellery), this year’s show experience was fairly positive. Fraser said it went better than expected despite having “its ups and downs,” with many international consumers in attendance. For him, high-end agates sold particularly well. This was Fraser’s 21st consecutive year participating in the Tucson gem shows, selling custom jewellery designed by his wife.
Fraser was situated at the Gem and Jewelry Exchange (GJX) show, along with another Canadian designer and carver, Bob M’Closkey from M’Closkey Lapidary Design. Attending the show for the 13th time, M’Closkey also specialized in high-end agates, doing carvings and lapidary designs. The gemstones that sold more for him were amethysts and ametrine, alongside normal quartz. However, M’Closkey noticed the same thing as other vendors: the higher the price, the easier it sold. One theory as to why this might be is the difference in culture and demand internationally. Gemstone prices often depend on the market for them in a given country.
