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Worldwide diamond jewellery sales grew by 4% in Q3 2018 according to Alrosa’s global luxury and jewellery market research.
North America, the largest diamond jewelry market, was found to have experience a 4% sales increase in Q3 compared to the same period last year. According to key retailers, stable growth was driven by “increased demand from the local population”.
In the Asia Pacific, a slowdown in sales growth to 3% in Q3 was tied to the “overall external economic environment”. China remains the key sales driver in the region thanks to the continued expansion of national retailers in the country’s mainland market. It said that many global retailers in China, in their turn, are adjusting their pricing strategies to increasing customs duties and depreciating local currency.
Alrosa also found that changes are also taking place in the Indian market, where major players are “still struggling to restore their reputation and regain buyers’ confidence in the authenticity of diamond jewellery”.
It found that there is an ongoing market redistribution, with large highly organized retail networks gradually taking market share from smaller ones and increasing their presence through expansion and franchising.
However, the bulk of the market is still dominated by small retailers, who are now encountering difficulties, which negatively affects the overall market performance. The decline in sales in the country is also caused by the weakening of the national currency.
In other countries, sales are driven primarily by domestic demand, showing an aggregate growth of 2%.
Dmitry Klimenko, head of the analytics department at Alrosa’s strategic projects and analytics center, said: “The main driver of the global diamond jewelry market is the US, which has seen stable growth rates throughout the year. This boosts market confidence ahead of the Christmas sales season. In Asia, consumer demand shows less steady growth because of the weakening of national currencies against the US dollar.”
