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Online Holiday Jewelry, Watch Sales Down from 2006 Levels

Jewelry and watches, just last year the darlings of the e-commerce world, have fallen from its perch as one the fastest growing holiday sales categories.
Andrew Lipsman, an analyst with comScore, Inc., said jewelry and watch sales growth has dropped from 2006 record levels. The company, which measures digital data, doesn't publicly release sales figures and so far it isn't releasing sales percentage growth for the category.
"However, I can tell you that 'jewelry & watches' actually saw a year-over-year sales decline," Lipsman told JCK.
In 2006, the "jewelry & watches" category grew 66 percent year-over-year, the biggest gain among all categories tracked by the Reston, Va.-based company. This high growth rate may have been one reason the category didn't perform as well in 2007, Lipsman said.
"The declines are likely a function of two things," he said. "First, jewelry & watches saw an unusually strong 2006 holiday season, meaning that any year-over-year growth this year is being calculated off a high base; Second, in an uncertain economy, consumers are likely to pull back on the purchase of luxury items, and jewelry & watches certainly falls under that domain."
The "flowers, greeting cards, & gifts" category, tracked by comScore , was down 19 percent, Lipsman told The New York Times.
The "video games, consoles & accessories" category saw a 129 percent growth year-over-year as of Dec. 16, by far the biggest gain among categories tracked by comScore. Other category that saw large year-over-year growth as of Dec. 16 are:
* Furniture, Appliances & Equipment, 63%* Event Tickets, 29%* Consumer Electronics, 24%* Apparel & Accessories, 17%
The figures from comScore excludes travel, auctions, and large corporate purchases.

Pricey Watches Enjoy Boom Amid Overall Sales Slump

The boom of mobile phones, MP3 players and blackberries _ all of which are automatic time-adjusting gadgets _ has been taking a toll on the popularity of wristwatches over the years, but a new consumer trend is giving hope to the once-fading business.Luxury watches, local retailers say, are enjoying brisk sales lately, which are pushing up the high-end market to new heights.

Various department store-operated multi-shops specializing in wristwatches say sales of timepieces over five million won have seen about a 20 percent increase since last year.Lotte Department Store's specialty shop Chronodigm said sales of watches over 30 million won have jumped 30 percent since last year and the figure amounts to more than 20 percent of the shop's total revenue.Likewise, Hyundai Department Store's The House of Fine Watches, which retails timepieces ranging from five million to 170 million won, said its last two months' sales totaled 300 million won.

Why the splurge? Watches not only make a fashion statement, but a status statement, experts say.``Sporting pricey watches is a subtle and fashionable way to show off your financial status,'' said Kim Hye-ran of Swatch Group Korea. She added that the lavish consumer trend is apparent within the Swatch Group _ comprised of various price-ranged brands, including the economical Swatch and high-end Breguet and Omega.``Brequet pieces are priced around 10-20 million won and Omegas at around three million won are selling strong even in times of the industry-wide slow down,'' she said, admitting that a worldwide dip in watch sales resulted from the introduction of various time telling devices

A survey by Seiko Watches in Japan said that the number of people aged between 16 and 29 wearing wristwatches dropped almost 30 percent since 1997.A similar downward trend has been witnessed here pushed by the large number of cell-phone owners, but retailers don't seem to mind it as much thanks to the heavily-priced pieces.``Those getting hurt by this trend are the mid-ranged watch sellers,'' said Kim, explaining that people these days either want to buy a ``really nice watch'' or just use their mobile phones to tell the time.

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Study Finds Luxury Consumers Use Social Networking Sites

hink social networking sites are just for teens and tweens who post party photos and lists of favorite bands? Think again. A new generation is flocking to Internet-based social networking sites – and they may well be the adult consumers most likely to make a luxury purchase.Over 40 percent of luxury consumers visited a social networking site, such as Facebook, YouTube, MySpace, etc. in the past three months.

This is the most surprising finding of a new survey by Unity Marketing about how luxury consumers are using the Internet. It is based upon a survey conducted in October among 1,074 affluent consumers who made at least one luxury purchase in the past three months (average income $150,200 and age 43.6 years)."This study shows the method behind Microsoft's 'madness' in paying $240 million for only 1.6 percent of Facebook. It isn't just kids visiting the social networking sites like Facebook anymore. Even middle-aged affluent consumers are networking online," says Pam Danziger, president of Unity Marketing and author of Shopping: Why We Love It and How Retailers Can Create the Ultimate Customer Experience."Young affluents, those 40 years and under, were the most active social networkers, but even one-third of the over 40 year old consumers reported visiting a social networking site."Internet exerts a powerful influence on luxury consumers' purchasesThe research study also found that over half (52 percent) of the luxury consumers of home luxury products and 46 percent of buyers of luxury fashion, fashion accessories, cosmetics, jewelry and watches used the Internet in support of their recent luxury purchases. "The Internet has a powerful influence on luxury consumers in terms of their spending. For example, those customers who used the Internet for home luxury purchases spent 11 percent more on their homes, while those who used the Internet for their personal luxury purchases spent 12.5 percent more on average buying fashion, jewelry, watches and cosmetic products. "They used the Internet both to research purchases, especially to compare prices and read other customers' reviews, as well as to make purchases.

The research also shows that they will visit a retailers' website to 'browse' before they head out to the store. The lesson is that luxury marketers and retailers which offer their customers a website get a significant return on investment in terms of more spending," Danziger says. Many websites give luxury consumers what they are hankering forWhen it comes to the features that luxury consumers value most in the Internet, the convenience of shopping at home is right at the top of the list, along with having a wide selection of merchandise available online. They also are passionate about the tools that the Internet gives them to compare prices and evaluate product features. It saves them time and makes shopping less of a chore.The many pluses of Internet shopping make up for any minor inconveniences, such as shipping and handling charges and delays in receiving the merchandise.

Other issues, however, are more of a hindrance to luxury shoppers. Some 35 percent of luxury consumers are very discouraged from using the Internet because of difficulties in returns and exchanges. And 21 percent are uneasy about making big ticket purchases, for example kitchen appliances and jewelry, online. "When asked what features were most important for a luxury shopping site to offer these luxury consumers, they were adamant about three features – in depth product information and specifications, detailed product pictures and a flexible return policy. They were far less concerned with company or brand news, lifestyle content or a store locator," Danziger says. Luxury travelers make the absolute most of the InternetLuxury travel is the one category where the Internet has most penetrated the luxury market. Commenting on the research, Danziger says, "Luxury consumers are maxing out the capabilities of the Internet in terms of their luxury travel. Over 90 percent of luxury consumers used the Internet in support of their travel planning in the third quarter. Over 80 percent made travel reservations online and researched travel destinations. More than half (56 percent) visited a website to see what other travelers have to say about their destination."Danziger concludes, "This study shows just how important the Internet is as a resource in support of the luxury consumers' lifestyle. Its value as a shopping venue is without question, but for marketers and retailers its role in influencing and informing the shopper can not be ignored. So when making investment decisions pertaining to the Internet, marketers need to carefully measure its power in advertising, promoting and building the company's brand and not just take into account the cash flow resulting directly from Internet purchases."

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History of BVLGARI Watches

The Bulgaris descend from an ancient family of Greek silversmiths whose activity began in the small village of Epirus, where Sotirio, the founder of the family, made precious objects in silver.
In the mid-19th century Sotirio emigrated to Italy where in 1884 he opened his first shop in via Sistina in Rome.

With the help of his sons Costantino and Giorgio, in 1905 he inaugurated the shop in via Condotti, which still today is Bvlgari's flagship store. Pay a virtual visit inside the Bvlgari flagship store in Rome, Via Condotti.
During the first decades of the 20th century, the two brothers developed a passionate interest in precious stones and jewels, gradually taking over their father's role.

During the 50's Bvlgari moves away from the strict disciplines of the dominant French school to create its own unique style.

The 1970's mark the beginning of Bvlgari's international expansion with the opening of their first overseas store in New York, and in Paris, Geneva, and Monte Carlo.

Today Bvlgari has 155 stores throughout the world. In the early 1990's, Bvlgari Parfums is established in Switzerland marking the Group's entry in the high-class perfume market.

On July 17th ,1995 the Bvlgari Holding Company S.p.A. is quoted on the Italian Stock Exchange Telematic system and the International SEAQ in London.
In 1997 Bvlgari introduces its first collection of silk scarves, characterized by an original design and top quality manufacturing. The first collection of Leather bags and Eyewear are launched in 1998, while table and giftware complete Bvlgari's diversification program in 1999.

Today, Paolo Bulgari and Nicola Bulgari, respectively Chairman and Vice-Chairman, together with their nephew Francesco Trapani, Chief Executive Officer, manage the company's development with the intent of better serving an international market, while remaining fine and prestigious jewelers.


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History of CHOPARD Watches

Intent on producing pocket watches and chronometers of stature, Louis-Ulysse Chopard founded his company in 1860, and the brand has continually turned out masterpieces. Just about a century into its legacy, Chopard was purchased by jewelry entrepreneur Karl Scheufele in 1963.

It was his vision to unite his jewelry company with watchmaking under one brand and to propel both areas to greater levels of accomplishment in design and technology.
In 1975, Scheufele built a production facility in Meyrin-Geneva, marking a new era for the brand.

In 1976, Chopard unveiled the now-famed Happy Diamonds collection to the world, and in the 1980s the brand launched the Gstaad collection of timepieces. In 1988, Chopard teamed with the Mille Miglia as an official partner and began creating the annual special-edition Mille Miglia watch—an icon of vintage automobile racing.

In the early 1990s, Karl and Karin Scheufele’s children became integral players in the family business. Caroline took over the jewelry design and Karl-Friedrich headed up the watch division. In 1996, the brand established itself as a complete Manufacture with the opening of a movement factory in Fleurier. The L.U.C movement made its debut that year and was the impetus for other movements to come.

In 1999, Chopard unveiled the L.U.C Sport 2000 collection, and a year later presented the L.U.C Quattro watch—equipped with a new caliber with four barrels and nine days of power reserve—in 2000. Chopard presented the L.U.C Tonneau in 2001. Chopard is also a major supporter of charitable causes and is a devoted patron of the arts. In 2001, Chopard began supporting the Elton John AIDS Foundation, creating limited-edition Elton John timepieces whose sales would benefit the foundation. Chopard is also intimately involved with such high-profile events as the Cannes International Film Festival.

Chopard’s collections of ladies’ jewelry and watches are amazing and inviting. From Happy Diamonds to Happy Sport with free-flowing diamonds, from the 1950s-inspired chic La Strada to the innovative Pushkin and Ice Cube collections, rich colors, seductive shapes and innovation are prominent driving forces.

With creativity at an all-time high, Chopard has grown at a faster rate than the market as a whole while preserving its independence—a rarity amongst watch and jewelry companies today. Caroline’s exquisite designs continually impress and excite the senses.
All of Chopard’s magnificent jewelry is created with the utmost attention to details. Each stone is hand picked and every design is completed by painstaking hand-craftsmanship. From gem selection to setting and polishing, master jewelers work long hours to ensure smooth, sensual finished pieces.

For the past decade, Chopard jewels have glistened on the necks and wrists of celebrities from all corners of the earth.
Partnering with the Cannes International Film Festival, Chopard is jeweler to the stars for 12 days each year at this exciting gala of heady days and wild nights. In addition to adorning the stars as they parade down the red carpet, Chopard produces all of the Palme d’Or trophies in its own workshops

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History of MAURICE LACROIX Watches

The name Maurice Lacroix stands for decades of experience in the production of high-quality watches. In 1961, Zurich-based Desco von Schulthess AG acquired an assembly facility in Saignelégier, a town in the Canton of Jura, where it produced private label watches for the national and international market. In 1975, the company laid initial foundations for its successful corporate history by introducing its first watch under the name of Maurice Lacroix in Austria. The brand was launched on the Spanish market a year later and, after another four years, the company founded its own sales organization in Germany. Then, two decades after launching its first watch, the company successfully entered the US market in 1995. In the fall of 2001, Maurice Lacroix S.A., previously a division of Desco von Schulthess AG, became an independent legal entity, thus generating ideal conditions in which to achieve its ambitious international growth targets.

Today, Maurice Lacroix, which has a total of 250 employees worldwide, is one of the most successful Swiss watch brands, both nationally and internationally, and is represented in more than 4,000 specialist shops in 45 countries all over the world. The company, one of the few independent Swiss watch manufacturers, has already established itself as a market leader in Germany in the upper middle-price segment, while in the USA the brand is one of the most dynamic in the industry.

Over the years, Maurice Lacroix has made significant investments to expand Queloz SA, a case manufacturer that it acquired in 1989, and its assembly facility in Saignelégier, and has made every effort to continuously keep the technology up-to-date. Investments were not restricted to infrastructure but were also made to optimise all internal processes. The assembly facility - together with the training and information centre opened in 2001 and the extension completed in January 2002 - is currently one of the most modern in the industry. The company thus put itself in an ideal position to use these state-of-the-art ateliers to design and put together its watches with a great deal of passion and precision. Around 150,000 top-quality timepieces now leave the Saignelégier facility each year and are distributed to customers all over the world.

In spite of the rapid change and growth, one thing has always remained the same - the company's love of design, perfection, and fine materials. Maurice Lacroix is particularly proud of the crown jewels of its collections - the classic, mechanical "Masterpiece" watches. The experience Maurice Lacroix has gained from this precise art of watch-making is also incorporated into the "Milestone", "Intuition", and "Sphere" collections. At the same time, the company is continuing to promote its proven classics, "Miros" and "Pontos". At the beginning of the new millennium, Maurice Lacroix has established a milestone with its diverse product portfolio and its new, independent communications campaign. The watches from Maurice Lacroix, which are set to be the classics of tomorrow, epitomize progressive, innovative technology, high-quality materials, and a design characterized by pure simplicity.

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In digital age, trend turning toward high-end watches

Juan Smith was 10 years old when he got his first Swatch wristwatch, the colorful, plastic, timekeeping staple of 1980s youth fashion.
"I wanted one in every color," said Smith, 36, of Pleasant Hill. "I thought I was someone important. Now, I can't for the life of me get my 7-year-old daughter to wear a watch."
With daylight-saving time officially wrapping up at 2 a.m., millions of Americans will turn their clocks and watches back one hour. But as the popularity of automatic, time-adjusting mobile phones and MP3 players continues to soar, fewer people need worry about the retro ritual of manually resetting their clocks.

A survey by Seiko Watches in Japan concluded that the number of people there between the ages of 16 and 49 wearing wristwatches fell from 70 percent in 1997 to 46 percent in 2006. And with more than 50 percent of American teenagers owning their own mobile phone, sales of wristwatches in this country declined by 10 percent, from 2005 to 2006, according to the Donegar Group, which tracks fashion merchandising.
"This may lead to a perception that most Americans no longer buy and wear watches," said Jean-Louis Van Den Bosch, a watch expert for nearly 30 years. "The fact is cell phones can give you the time, but a watch is a status symbol. And you can't bring a sports car into the boardroom."

The decline in necessity and popularity of former must-have style items such as custom cuff links, expensive cigarette cases and lighters has freed up disposable income for accessories like watches.
Van Den Bosch, of Julianna's Fine Jewelry in Corte Madera, said that while sales among teens have slowed, the Swatch Group, which owns more than 20 brand-name watch labels including Omega (007's wristwatch) and Tissot, has done a better job lately selling watches in the $1,500 to $5,000 price range. The Swatch sport watches of the 1980s, which are still available, retail from about $60.
Temple University business Professor Ram Mudambi has studied Swatch and its business practices for decades.
"Bottom line: The margins on Swatch brand, even in its heyday, were never as large as those on the company's luxury lines," said Mudambi, who is also Temple's Perelman senior research fellow at the Fox School of Business. "Swatch and the luxury lines probably contributed about equally to company profits in the late 1980s and early '90s, with Swatch falling and the luxury lines rising since then."

Maria Mendoza, who works at a small watch shop in downtown San Francisco that sells timepieces ranging from Fossil to Swiss Army, said teens who formerly sprung for a $100 watch are now scooping up models as pricey as $1,200.
Van Den Bosch said that although just 3 percent of Americans own watches that retail for at least $300, they are the same men and women who typically own several of the most expensive kinds of timepieces.

This is true for Lars Dittmann, shopping with his wife in downtown San Francisco, who said he habitually wears his blue-faced Citizen model.
"It has long been a habit for me to flip my wrist for the time," said Dittmann, 37, who received the watch as a gift from his father. I have three other nice watches at home, but I wear this one because of its value to me."

Just as there is no shortage of mid-range and luxury watches flooding the market, there is no shortage of watch advertisements, either. Celebrity spokespeople for Tag Heuer include golfer Tiger Woods, tennis star Maria Sharapova and actress Uma Thurman, whose advertisements are prominently featured in glossy fashion magazines, men's publications and newspapers.
Male collectors frequently see their watch purchases as investments, as the value of high-end watches often increases over time. Robert Saenz, who works at the Tag Heuer counter at Bloomingdale's in San Francisco, said he counts newly minted college graduates among his loyal customers.

"Guys come to me and say they want understated elegance," Saenz said. "Men look for quality, versatility, durability and style."
When men reach their 30s and 40s, Van Den Bosch said, they typically become interested in brands such as Rolex, Breitling, Patek Philippe, Vacheron Constantin and Girard-Perregaux. Sales for such watches, he added, have only increased since the emergence of mobile phones and iPods.

But it's women who seem to be purchasing more watches in the $200-$600 range, incorporating them as fashionable accessories, noted Judy Phuong, of Coach, in the Village at Corte Madera. "Ladies can wear them casually, but they can also dress them up," she said. "Some of our most popular watches can be worn on the same arm as bangle bracelets and then worn separately as well."
Some aficionados, such as Alex Howard, 25, have come to view themselves as collectors.
"In high school I mostly used a clock to tell the time, and later my cell phone," she said. "In the last couple years, I wore a chubby bracelet-style watch. Now I have moved on to more elegant, versatile models."
One telling sign that wristwatches are making a comeback was the number of attendees wearing them at the recent opening-night galas at the San Francisco Opera House and Davies Symphony Hall. Many of the best-dressed patrons wore jewel-encrusted cocktail watches every bit as sparkling and eye-catching as their timeless earrings, necklaces and minaudieres.
"What we are seeing is a return to the classics," said Giles Marsden, director of Tiffany & Co. in San Francisco. "Cocktail watches with beautiful diamonds will never go out of style."