Colin Pocklington, managing director of Nationwide Jewellers, told Jeweller that members of the jewellery buying group – which is the largest in Australia and New Zealand, representing more than 500 stores – had purchased considerably more stock in recent months compared to the same time last year.
“After a slow start to the [financial] year in July and August, trading improved substantially after the Sydney International Jewellery Fair (IJF), with September and October member spending up 25 per cent and 21 per cent respectively over the same time last year,” he stated.
Pocklington added that these figures, as well as the increased use of the group’s free financing program, suggested member spending at the IJF in late August was “well up” on 2014.
Retailers traditionally increase stock levels for the Christmas trading period at the IJF and Pocklington attributed the rise in spending to improved business confidence.
He said a successful Antwerp buying trip in late September and the addition of 10 new members in recent months had also contributed to Nationwide’s positive overall results.
“At this stage, we expect continued buoyant trading, with our Christmas catalogue promotion generating a lot of re-orders already,” Pocklington commented. “Several suppliers have sold out of backup stock of some lines and are scrambling to arrange alternate products.”
Positive consumer sentiments
There are indicators that also signal improved consumer sentiment. Michael Dyer, sales manager of software and consulting business Retail Edge Consultants, said recent consumer spending behaviour pointed to a positive outlook for this Christmas.
Dyer’s analysis was based on data collated from approximately 300 jewellery stores across Australia and New Zealand via the ‘market trending’ feature of the company’s Edge Pulse jewellery retail software.
He explained that as at 6 December 2015, data collected from the previous 25 days indicated that while the overall dollar value of sales was “a little down”, along with the average retail price per item, the number of items per transaction and average spend per customer had increased compared to the same period in 2014.
“[This result provides] great positive momentum in this early run to Christmas,” he commented.
Dyer warned jewellers, however, that increasing the percentage of lower-priced product in-store would mean a higher dependence on attracting a large number of customers, which he said was not a simple task for independent retailers with limited marketing resources.
Pocklington and Dyer’s comments follow positive pre-Christmas retail spending forecasts from Australia’s two major retail industry bodies.
As previously reported by Jeweller, the Australian Retailers Association predicted consumers would spend $46.8 billion from 15 November to 24 December – a 3.6 per cent increase on 2014. The National Retail Association similarly expected spending to rise 4.1 per cent to $44.5 billion this year.
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