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No Jewelers in Retail's Top 100
July 2, 2007
No jewelry stores made it onto the 2007 list of the Top 100 retailers in North America, published annually by STORES magazine of the National Retail Federation. Instead, as jewelry retailers dropped off the list, truck stops and restaurants were added. We all know the sobering JBT statistics showing a net loss of 500 – 800 independent jewelers a year, but not one single major jewelry-only retailer earned enough money in 2006 to make it onto the Top 100 list. Just think: truck stops are making more money than jewelry stores.
The list, compiled using 2006 revenue figures, doesn’t mean that consumers aren’t buying jewelry. A number of retailers on STORES’ Top 100 list do sell jewelry—including Wal-Mart, holding steady in the number-one position—but none are jewelry-only firms. Among those stores on the list who do sell jewelry are Costco, Target, Sears, Federated Dept. Stores (now called Macy’s), JC Penney, TJX, Kohl’s, Nordstrom, BJ’s Wholesale Club, QVC, Neiman Marcus, Saks (in the 100th position), and others. But what the list does suggest is that consumers seem perfectly happy buying jewelry where they buy everything else, and they don’t seem compelled to shop for it at a jewelry store.
For those who haven’t heard Claudia Rose of the Diamond Promotion Service speak about the Retail Landscape Study DPS commissioned last year, a summary of it appeared in JCK’s 2006 Annual State of the Industry Report. In short, the study found that contrary to jewelers’ beliefs, consumers don’t especially enjoy the jewelry-shopping experience and, overall, don’t like jewelry stores.
Better news was to be found on the STORES Hot 100 list of the fastest-growing retailers in North America, based on year-over-year revenue growth. Here, three jewelry firms made the list—although Finlay Enterprises barely squeaked on at number 94, and Tiffany placed very modestly at number 81.
So guess who is the fastest-growing jewelry retailer?
You guessed it, it’s Blue Nile. The e-tailer was number 25 on the list of the 100 fastest-growing retailers, period—far above any other jeweler. It’s clocking in an annual revenue growth rate of 20.05 percent, compared to 7.20 percent for Finlay and 8.63 percent for Tiffany. Admittedly, its revenues are still significantly below Finlay, and far below Tiffany, and we’re comparing a relatively young business against two very mature businesses—but at 20 percent growth per year, this is a pretty loud warning bell. As if we haven’t already been warned.
Posted by Hedda Schupak on July 2, 2007 | Comments (0)
