(diamonds.net) - Despite the lockdowns, mask mandates, economic anxiety and fraught political landscape, 2020 wasn’t a bad year for jewelers. “So many retailers find themselves in the best cash positions they have had in years, if not the best in their history,” says Abe Sherman, CEO of business consulting firm Buyers Intelligence Group. US jewelry sales figures for March 2021 testify to that: They more than doubled year on year, increasing by 106%, according to Mastercard SpendingPulse. One reason for the surge was the strong base comparison with March 2020, notes the analytics service, since that was when the pandemic first started to hit retail. However, Mastercard also points to consumers having extra cash for jewelry due to government stimulus payments. Independent jewelers’ bottom lines also benefitted from widespread governmental assistance. In January, the US Department of Treasury reported that its Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) had so far “successfully provided 5.2 million loans worth $525 billion to America’s small businesses, supporting more than 51 million jobs.”
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13 october 2026
