Covid-19
Covid-19 brought unprecedented challenges to the UK jewellery trade, reshaping retail, supply chains, and consumer behaviour. For jewellers, manufacturers, and suppliers, understanding the pandemic’s lasting impact is essential to building resilience and adapting strategies. Jewellery Focus offers in-depth coverage of Covid-19’s effects on the industry, including market analysis, recovery efforts, e-commerce growth, and insights into how businesses are navigating a post-pandemic landscape.
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Jun- 2020 -8 JuneManufacturers
BlueRock Diamonds completes $700k diamond sale
BlueRock Diamonds, a diamond producer that owns and operates the Kareevlei diamond mine in South Africa, has announced the private sale of 2,400 carats. The carats were sold at an average price of $290 (£229) per carat for a total of $700,000 (£552,000). According to the producer, the sale did…
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8 JuneCoronavirus
Sunday trading deregulation would be a ‘slap in the face’ for key workers, says Usdaw
Shopworkers union Usdaw has titled government plans for Sunday trading deregulation as a “slap in the face” for key workers and calls out the government failing to provide a “proper strategy “to help the retail industry. This move to deregulate Sunday trading hours would come across as an opportunistic use…
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5 JuneRetailers
Bira welcomes business rates revaluation postponement in Wales
The British Retailers Association (Bira) has welcomed the decision by the Welsh government to delay the revaluation of business rates. The announcement follows a similar ruling made in England on 6 May, which resulted in the government scrapping a bill to reevaluate business rates in 2021. The decision to postpone…
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5 JuneCoronavirus
Consumer confidence slips further amid UK lockdown
GfK’s long-running Consumer Confidence Index has decreased by two points over the past two weeks. In the market research firm’s third Covid-19 flash report, it found that the measure for the general economic situation of the country dropped five points to -60 between 20 and 26 May. Additionally, the outlook…
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2 JuneCoronavirus
NAJ releases online courses for jewellery industry
The National Association of Jewellers has published two training courses to help retailers, manufacturers and suppliers within the industry demonstrate compliance with its issued guidance. The two courses include one course for retailers and one for course suppliers. Both have been produced using the association’s four-step ‘people first’ Covid-19 guidance,…
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1 JuneAdvice
The new ‘business as un-usual’ for the jewellery trade
It’s a bit of an understatement to say that the jewellery industry has been rocked (like every industry) by this pandemic. It has caused businesses to collapse, unemployment to rise and left us all thinking about what sort of new normal we will return to. With the Government easing lockdown…
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1 JuneCoronavirus
UK consumers want ‘more opportunities’ to support local businesses
Some 54% of UK consumers said they would like more opportunities to support local businesses during the current ongoing lockdown, such as being able to purchase vouchers in exchange for future goods. The findings come from new research published by ActLocal.co and VCCP Ignite, who also found that 63% of…
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1 JuneRetailers
Usdaw calls on government to respond to crime report
Retail trade union Usdaw has called on the government to respond to a new report which highlights the cost to business and staff of violence, threats and abuse against shopworkers. The ‘Retail violence: abused and attacked at work’ report by broadcast journalist Jamie Long highlights the 9% increase in violence…
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May- 2020 -28 MayCoronavirus
NAJ publishes updated guidance for jewellers
The NAJ has published a third version of its guidance for jewellers ahead of the reopening of non-essential stores on 15 June. The guidance now includes a “clear differentiation” between tasks and activities that are deemed mandatory, and those that can be “considered” by jewellery stores. The update was shaped…
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28 MayCoronavirus
Goldsmiths’ Company Charity awards over £700,000 in grants through the Covid-19 fund
The Goldsmiths’ Company and Charity have awarded over £700,000 in grants to people working in the craft, trade and allied industries who face financial hardship due to the Covid-19 pandemic, following the launch of the £1m Goldsmiths’ Covid-19 Fund on 22 April. The emergency fund was set up to provide…
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