jewelry

Valentine’s Day 2021: Jewelry Brands Emphasize Self-Gifting and Curbside Pickup

Turns out, Valentine’s Day is huge for self-gifting in the jewelry space.
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Aurate

· less than 3 min read

Retail news that keeps industry pros in the know

Retail Brew delivers the latest retail industry news and insights surrounding marketing, DTC, and e-commerce to keep leaders and decision-makers up to date.

This year, heart-shaped pendants are to be seen and not worn—but not because someone picked the wrong gift. The NRF expects jewelry sales to fall nearly 30% to $4.1 billion YoY.

Anyone still sparkling? Jewelry brands Retail Brew spoke with expected healthy V-Day sales anyway—but the holiday’s importance splintered along physical and digital lines.

  • Signet Jewelers President Jamie Singleton told us it’s a critical sales period for mall-reliant brands Zales, Kay, and Jared, with shoppers gravitating toward higher-priced items.
  • Aurate cofounder Sophie Kahn called the holiday important but “not as substantial as other holidays or events” at the DTC brand.

Behavior to watch: “90% of [Aurate] purchasers are women and 80% are buying for themselves, so Valentine’s Day is not the first thing that comes to mind,” Kahn said. But other brands are courting self-gifters this season...

  • Signet has tried appealing to individual splurges this year with a marketing campaign emphasizing the “female self-purchaser.”
  • Kendra Scott CMO Mindy Perry told Retail Brew that women made up more than 75% of in-store purchases from Feb. 1-11 in key markets.

For all customers, Perry and Singleton both said they’re emphasizing in-store pickup services. In Texas, Kendra Scott stores are also partnering with local florists for bundled deliveries.

Greater digital sales = fewer adjustments. Aurate’s noticing profitable growth this year without rewriting its formula. “Aside from moving even more toward online and customers buying earlier in the year, we’ve noticed very little difference versus prior holiday seasons,” cofounder Bouchra Ezzahraoui told us.

Retail news that keeps industry pros in the know

Retail Brew delivers the latest retail industry news and insights surrounding marketing, DTC, and e-commerce to keep leaders and decision-makers up to date.