The Plumb Club’s Study Identifies
Primary Factors in Jewelry Purchases
Groundbreaking Research Reveals Retailer Websites as Biggest Consumer Influencers
New York – The Plumb Club has just released the findings of a new research project. The multi-focused study, titled The Plumb Club Industry & Market Insights 2021, pulls together information and statistics on the state of the global jewelry market and then focuses on the US jewelry industry. It segments consumer demographics, illustrates characteristics, psychographics and emerging trends. Further, it contains a comprehensive consumer insights section, gathered via a quantitative consumer survey. The project was undertaken during the first half of this year with the goal of gathering the most comprehensive consumer perspectives on jewelry related topics.
- The study states that 33% of respondents rate a retailer’s website as the number 1 influencer of a jewelry purchase. The influence of “family and friends” came in second at 30% and social media advertising, third, at 14%.
- When it comes to the reason for a new jewelry purchase, special occasions gleaned a 48% response. Other responses for “reasons” were 23% “no reason needed”, 12% personal reward, 8% because they had seen similar items on celebrities or in magazines, and 8% because they had seen similar items on friends. In aggregate, the number of reasons to purchase without an occasion may underscore the growth of the self-purchase category. Self-purchase also ranked number 1, at 40% when asked about “jewelry purchase motivations”.
- Quality (31%), Design (23%) and Uniqueness (17%) are noted as the most important factors when looking for jewelry with Price ranking below all of these factors at 16%.
- As for where they purchase, 63% say they prefer to purchase in store, 25% calling out the independent jeweler. 28% of participants said they prefer to purchase online.
- When participants were asked to rank on a scale from 1 – 10 (10 being most important), how important it is to them that their jewelry is responsibility sourced, sustainable and ethical– 20% rated this consideration a 10, with the average ranking of 6.5. 72% of respondents saying they would be willing to pay more for a piece that was sustainably sourced. 26% said they would pay “a great deal” more.
- According to the survey, $1,207 is the average spent on a new jewelry purchase and 57% of those surveyed say that the availability of financing would influence their decision.
The study was done with the participation of The Futurist, Paola DeLuca, a recognized thought-leader, trend-forecaster and researcher within the luxury industry, with the support of Qualtrics a quantitative statistical analysis/survey firm often sited in a number of professional and academic journals.
The consumer survey sampled over 1000 men and women, from the ages of 25-60 with a focus on 10 test markets across the US. Respondents had all attended some college or higher, had a combines household income of at least $75K/year and claimed to have either purchased jewelry in the past year and/or were intending to purchase jewelry in the upcoming year.
