Retailrap

RAPAPORT…

The 4Cs are not the only things that make a piece of diamond jewelry a sales winner. In an ongoing series, Rapaport Diamond Report explores the “3Ws” — what’s selling, what’s not and why — by going straight to the people who really know — jewelry retailers. Each month, we ask a sampling of retailers to comment on the important issues that are facing the industry today. Here is what they had to say when asked in early February: What are the most popular styles and sizes in bridal? Are customers still choosing white metals?

SONNY MORSTEIN, OWNER
MORSTEIN’S JEWELERS
BALTIMORE, MARYLAND

“The halo is everything now; anything with diamonds around the center is just walking out of here. The last 12 diamond sets we sold were the halo look. It’s a bigger sale than the Tiffany, the four-prong, which had been the bread-and-butter of our sales, so I’m very pleased. The average center stone on a halo is a 1.00 carat to a 1.50 carat. When customers are looking, they definitely don’t want anything under a carat.

“It’s now moving away a little bit from platinum into palladium. It’s the same price as white gold without the yellow gold mixture. Yellow is definitely not the color of choice and hasn’t been for the past three years.

“In terms of price points, I’m surprised that people are spending more for their engagements. They want that stone and a nice ring set. The guys are very fussy shoppers now, more than I’m used to. They are pretty knowledgeable.  Looking at the pictures on the internet has created a ‘can-I-design-it?’ customer. It’s a little more work but it’s a larger sale when you’re finished.”

CHARLES STEPHENS, OWNER
RANDOLPH JEWELERS
PLACERVILLE, CALIFORNIA

“Our business is mostly with second brides, so we do small stones and we do larger stones. The carat-plus is probably average, but again it’s not first-time brides. We’re still doing a lot with the micropavé.

“White gold is number one and then platinum. We do have men’s wedding bands in tungsten and the like but not engagement rings. In terms of price points, they’re less than they were a couple of years ago. The spiral started in 2008 and continued in 2009.”

GARY LITTMAN, CO-OWNER
GARY MICHAELS FINE JEWELRY
MANALAPAN, NEW JERSEY

 “We’ve been selling much more bridal, less designer. And in the bridal, it’s fewer three-stone rings versus 2008 and 2007, and more engagement rings, fewer wedding bands and anniversary bands. We’ve been promoting, like everyone else, more bridal and more price-point bridal. As far as what we’ve been selling the most, it’s been bigger bang with the diamond and less with the mounting. And that’s led us more into price points of a $1,000 to $3,000 mounting, instead of the $3,000 to $5,000 mounting. People want to spend more on the diamond, which is usually the case, but we’re seeing it even more so now. The sweet spot for us is probably 5-grainers, 1 to under 2 carats, even the 7-grainers, although we do sell 2 carats. 

“Rounds are still the most popular and it’s still white metal, with palladium for men’s wedding bands and sometimes tungsten, if you explain the attributes. But for women, it’s white gold. Micropavé is still strong. To save costs, they might opt for smaller micropavé.”

JASON DRUXMAN,
VICE PRESiDENT/GENERAL MANAGER
AVENUE JEWELERS
APPLETON, WISCONSIN

“We’re still seeing a huge amount of the micropavé in white gold and platinum — that’s the number-one style. In terms of sizes, it’s 0.75 carat to 1 carat. Round is still the strongest shape. We’re still seeing people going with the traditional metals; not a lot of people are willing to change over.  Our average price for bridal rings has pretty much held true for the past four years or so.”

RICHARD FINN, VICE PRESIDENT
E.B. HORN CO.
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS

“Bridal is a disproportionately larger portion of our business than many fine jewelers. We sell an awful lot of engagement rings. We sell the full range, but the most popular sizes for us are probably from about 1 carat to 2.50 carats. In terms of a particular style, I would say that the micropavé, halo-type design is still pretty strong in terms of a niche-type of product; it’s more popular with fancies than rounds. And in terms of metals, it’s still white metals overwhelmingly.  We don’t use alternative metals like palladium in bridal too much.

“The average price point has probably weakened a little bit over the past year and a half. I think that everybody is a little more conservative in terms of how they’re spending their money. Fortunately for us, people are always getting engaged and we do sell a lot of engagement and wedding rings. The most popular quality is still G, SI1, but we are seeing a lot more people buying SI2 and even SI3s.”

JOHN HENNE, CO-OWNER
HENNE JEWELERS
PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA

“No question, the one thing we can say for sure is that everything is white. Only on the rare, rare occasion are we selling anything in yellow. For us, it’s either platinum or white gold. We are selling palladium in gents’ carved bands but we have not really gone into that in semimounts, engagement rings, diamond wedding bands or things like that.

“We’ve seen a real increase in Asschers and cushions, and square radiants are doing well, but round is still number one. In terms of general styling, micropavé is still popular, as well as the classic solitaire and three-stone rings, with center stones of 0.75 carat to 3 carats the strength of what we sell.

“We have seen a minor decline in the average price but nothing significant. We carry the gamut of sizes and generally people are still doing a nice combination, a comfortable blend of size and quality. We see colorless and near colorless SI when people are trying to compromise on quality.”

JERRY FORREST, OWNER
JERRY FORREST, GG, LLC
DALLAS, TEXAS

“Most of the stones I’ve been selling have been somewhere in the 1.50- to 2-, 2.25-carat range. It’s rounds, ovals and princess cuts and about half and half platinum and gold — most of my things are custom but most are in either of those two metals.

“In terms of price points, most of my clients still want good quality. I’ve had my own shop since 1977, and I’m into the fourth and fifth generation of some families. I do a lot of wedding rings for kids of grandparents I started out doing jewelry for years ago and they normally want better stuff — nice white, H or better color, SI2 or better clarity, with some VS and VVS. The VS2 to SI1 range is probably average, and G to H color would cover probably over 50 percent of what I sell.

“I do quite a bit in palladium and I’ve done some of the titanium stuff, and even a stainless-steel band the other day, because white’s so big and men, if they’re not putting diamonds in the band, don’t really care as far as the plain band goes. I do quite a bit of palladium with platinum prongs, for solitaires.”