Retail jewelry sales in March of 2022 grew 11.9% compared to March 2021, according to statistics released by Mastercard SpendingPulse
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The numbers are even more impressive when comparing last month’s jewelry sales to pre-pandemic levels. March 2022 jewelry sales were a whopping 78.8% higher than the tallies recorded in March of 2019.
The jewelry sector has been riding a wave of great sales data that started in the summer of 2021. That’s when Mastercard singled out “jewelry” as the fastest growing retail sector, with July 2021 sales jumping a whopping 54.2% compared to pre-pandemic July 2019 levels.
Then, in December, the Mastercard report emphasized how “smaller boxes had a big impact” during the holiday season, as jewelry sales soared 32% during the period that spanned November 1 through December 24.
The most recent Mastercard report emphasized how consumers’ increased mobility has directly impacted their shopping habits. In-store sales, for instance, jumped 11.2% in March 2022 vs March 2021.
Other signs that consumers are getting back to their routines was the strong year-over-year performance of the airline industry (+44.8% in March), restaurants (+19.1%) and lodging (+16.0%).
Hawaii was the state with the strongest sales growth in March (up 12.2%) as more honeymooners and tourists chose that destination, according to the survey. March’s other top-performing states were Wyoming (+12.2%), Colorado (+11.0%), Florida (+9.7%) and Texas (+9.1%).
“Retail sales remain strong but are stabilizing as consumers resume spending on passion areas like travel, live entertainment, indoor dining and other in-person activities,” said Steve Sadove, senior advisor for Mastercard and former CEO and Chairman of Saks Incorporated. “After nearly two years of cautious optimism around the broader reopening, it’s a healthy sign that consumers are returning to a balanced level of spending across retail sectors and services.”
Mastercard SpendingPulse
reports on US retail sales across all payment types. The findings are based on aggregate sales activity in the Mastercard payments network, coupled with survey-based estimates for certain other payment forms, such as cash and check.
Credits: Shopper image by Bigstockphoto.com. Mastercard SpendingPulse, U.S. Snapshot – March 2022 table courtesy of Business Wire.
