Jewelry sales shine as sector fights back from pandemic

Huang Yixuan

20:06 UTC+8, 2022-08-04 0

Consumers now place greater emphasis on quality and service after the pandemic, tending to buy higher-end jewelry and focusing more on the design, artistry and comfort.

Huang Yixuan

20:06 UTC+8, 2022-08-04 0

As part of the city's annual shopping festival, the Shanghai Diamond and Gems Culture Festival kicked off on Thursday, Chinese Valentine's Day, to help boost the city's luxury sector.

Leading jewelry brands, including Lao Feng Xiang, Chow Tai Fook, Kimberlite Diamond, and Leysen, showcased high-end designs at the launch ceremony and revealed their promotional activities for the festival.

Shanghai Laomiao Gold will launch a new series of jewelry specially designed for newly weds with promotions and discounts, said Chai Wenhua, vice president of parent company the Shanghai Yuyuan Jewelry & Fashion Group.

Consumers now place greater emphasis on quality and service, tending to buy higher-end jewelry and focusing more on the design, artistry and comfort, said a manager at US-based Kimberlite Diamond.

Kimberlite's retail sales in Shanghai have recovered to about 60 percent of pre-pandemic levels and it expects that figure to further pick up in coming months with the boost of the shopping festival.

By end-2021, Shanghai led the country in retail sales of social consumer goods – surging 13.5 percent year on year.

Shanghai accounts for about half the national retail sales of luxury goods, and saw the largest number of new stores last year.

In 2021, Shanghai's total sales of gold and silver jewelry amounted to 62.7 billion yuan, a surge of 30.3 percent year on year and the second fastest growth of all social consumer goods categories, after office supplies. Shanghai accounted for a seventh of the nation's diamond sales.