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Monday, November 30, 2015

Focus On Jewels And Watches Online As The Holidays Begin

"Disorder," a silver-plated short necklace with ovals in different sizes from Spanish brand Uno de 50

As the holiday shopping season in the US gets into full gear the National Retail Federation expects total sales in the November and December shopping period to increase by a solid 3.7 percent to $630.5 billion.

Out of the that total, online retail spending for the period will increase 14 percent year-over-year to $70.1 billion, according to ComScore. Out of that figure sales on desktop computers is expected to increase 9 percent to $58.3 billion. Mobile commerce is predicted to account for $11.7 billion of retail spending, representing 17 percent of total digital commerce and growing at a rate of 47 percent vs. last season. In total, digital commerce is expected to account for about 15 percent of consumers' discretionary spending.

How much of that total that will include jewelry and watch sales is unknown at this point. However, the share of this retail market has grown consistently since 2009. Online and mobile merchants are growing at a rapid pace and those already in the game have an advantage.

One of those merchants is Spanish fashion retailer Uno de 50, a silver and gold jewelry brand with a presence in nearly 20 countries around the world, including branded boutiques and other retail and wholesale points of sale.

The company also has a robust online presence in the US that it plans to use to increase its share in the world’s largest jewelry market. The company focuses on affordable and fun pieces that can be worn casually and can easily be collected and matched in many combinations.

For example the company has a line of long and short key necklaces for women that are versatile, providing a number of options for women who buy their own jewels and have a strong sense of fashion. Some are adorned with pearls and semi-precious gems, adding a bit of color to the collections. They match well with the rest of the company’s offerings and can be worn with a variety of clothing styles.

Jewelry has been slow to adopt eCommerce with the school of thought being that people want to see and feel the pieces before buying. This argument has been proven wrong and the past few years jewelers have moved quickly to online sales. However, luxury watch brands that are very focused on controlling all aspects of their marketing and distribution have been even slower to adopt to eCommerce. A few brands like Montblanc and Chopard now sell a selection of the timepieces and other products from their website. 

As consumers continue to go online and eventually to mobile platforms for their purchases, brands, retailers and niche operators are jostling for position on this retail frontier.

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