The exhibitions held in Saint Petersburg in the beginning of 2009 produced an unexpected result, according to the Economica i Vremya Weekly. For instance, exponents brought whole sacks of jewelry to the JUNWEX Petersburg Jewelry Show. Initially they were brought as samples for wholesale buyers and then just for retail sales. To industry people in the pavilions, it seemed that there was no crisis visible in Russia: it was a rare occasion when people bought diamond and topaz rings so briskly…
It was not at all surprising because in January Saint Petersburg was swept by rumors about “bling” going up in price. People based their assumptions on the “worldly wisdom” – gold is always getting more expensive in crisis time. Later there circulated reports from exchanges around the world proving that the same idea appeared true in those places too. So gold quotations started to creep upwards losing any correspondence with movement of prices for other precious metals (platinum and silver), which were continuing their dive. On the whole the gold jewelry market went upwards on the background of apprehensions and lack of confidence in the future.
However, last autumn jewelers were in real panic when in November and December 2008 demand for home-made gold jewelry and gems slumped by 30-38%. In 2009, the mood changed. This turned evident at the JUNWEX Petersburg Show.
The RosYuvelirExpert Agency made an analysis of consumer demand at this exhibition. Totally, JUNWEX Petersburg 2009 was attended by 28 355 visitors, mainly by top managers which meant their income was above average. The survey covered 523 persons, of whom 64.6% were women and 35.4% men. The probe demonstrated that the consumers’ social and age image was changing along with their preferences in jewelry.
Thus as before, the major audience at the exhibition was composed of women, but if during the recent years their age ranged from 20 to 30 years, this time it was 40-50 years (12.5%). As for men visitors they, on the contrary, turned out to “grow younger”: these were mainly medium and top level managers and owners of businesses in their thirties or forties (12%).
Asked if the crisis affected their decision to buy jewelry, 69% of respondents said not at all. Only 4% of them pointed out that a jewelry purchase was a good investment. 31% of the survey participants were planning to cut down their expenses, including 5% who noted that “today was not the right time to buy jewelry.”
Among the least affected by the economic situation with regard to jewelry purchases were female office workers, but it had a harder impact on managers – both men and women – reducing their buying activity. Young people under 20 and older people over 50 were not subject to crisis mood: they were going to buy jewelry as they did before and in similar amounts. Their purchases account for 5% and 16% of total sales accordingly.
The majority of interviewed participants were ready for a one-time purchase not exceeding 10,000 roubles (34%); not more than 5,000 roubles (22%); up to 30,000 roubles (20%); and up to 3,000 roubles (10%). Eight percent of the respondents were apt to buying expensive things worth up to 50,000 roubles, and six percent above 50,000 roubles.
Asked to make some forecasts, the respondents spoke of would-be spending for jewelry during the next year - up to 30,000 roubles (29%), up to 10,000 roubles (28%), above 50,000 roubles (17%) and over 30,000 roubles (12%).
Saint Petersburg inhabitants and visitors said their most favored metal was gold (68%), 27% were out for silver and 4% were spellbound by platinum; palladium was still unpopular having polled 1% of votes. The annual surveys and their further analysis performed by RosYuvelirExpert permit to trace certain trends in all the fields of changing consumer demand. In particular, silver jewelry sales in the second half of 2007 were 15%, while last February-March they were 21.7% and in the same period of 2009 they reached 27%. It is possible to expect further growth of attraction to silver just because many companies widened their range of products within this group.
Women at JUNWEX Petersburg mainly sought gem jewelry pieces (24%), or diamond jewelry (21%), jewelry pieces without inserts (20%), as well as chains of various wickerwork (18%). Men were still eager to buy watches (20%) and chains (19%).
The survey displayed a contradiction between the answers given by sales experts from various provinces of Russia and those given by end buyers: while the experts rated colored gem sales as the lowest, the interviewed buyers, on the contrary, rated them as the highest. This result may be due to that merchants reflected country-wide demand, whereas the visitors meant Petersburg only.
Notably changed was buyers’ attitude to brands: for a long time a brand’s name had a chance to influence not more than 1% of surveyed. Now the figure shot up to 37%.
The most often (60%) among the buyers’ complaints was the one concerning the quality of services offered by sales clerks. In particular, buyers pointed to a low level of professional knowledge, obtrusiveness, inhospitality, and haughtiness – “they meet you by your clothes.” Other complaints were related to a poor product range in jewelry stores (32%) including absence of diversity, obsolete and vapid design, lack of jewelry for young people and scarce luxury goods as well as a limited number of sizes. Besides, there were complaints that people could not be sure about jewelry quality because merchants used to conceal their manufactures.
Today buyers are far from being indifferent as to what kind of jewelry they are purchasing. It is indicative that the interviewed people said they wanted jewelry stores to improve their personnel and assortment. According to jewelry experts, for many years discounts served as the main gimmick to attract customers. Now discounts were mentioned only by 5% of buyers.
