Engagement ring sales plummeting — due to COVID-19

statesbulletin April 26, 2023

0 2 minutes read

Lifestyle

To Emily Lefroy

April 26, 2023 | 7:42 PM

It has a strange “ring” on it.

Engagement ring sales are down, likely due to COVID-19.

The numerous failed romances due to the coronavirus pandemic have had a major impact on the wedding industry, resulting in a plummeting engagement ring sales. This phenomenon is called the “engagement gap”.

“You can still see it today,” Jamie Singleton, president and chief consumer officer of retailer Signet Jewelers, recently told CNN.

Engagement ring sales at jeweler Signet, including Zareth, Jared, Kay Jewelers and Diamond Direct, need to increase 25% by 2026 to return to pre-pandemic levels.

But Singleton said the drop in ring count wasn’t a shock.

“So what happened in the last few years is what we expected and what we planned,” she explained. We expect that trend to continue in 2024.”

Singleton says bridal jewelry is extremely important to the company, as bridal jewelry purchases account for 50% of sales.

And it’s not just engagement rings that are affected. Due to the pandemic, brides are moving away from traditional weddings and dresses.

Fewer offers means sales are plummeting.

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Last week, national supplier David’s Bridal filed for bankruptcy, wiping out more than 9,000 jobs across the country.

In a statement on April 17, James Markham, CEO of David’s Bridal, said the impact of the pandemic had a lingering impact on sales.

“We have successfully modernized our marketing and customer-facing processes, pushing our retail service levels to best-in-class,” said Marcum. “Nevertheless, our business continues to be challenged by the post-COVID environment and uncertain economic conditions, and we have decided to take this step to identify a buyer who can continue to operate our business in the future. became.”

A spokesperson for Signet said, “FY2023 engagement jewelry sales were weak and we expect that trend to continue for the remainder of FY2024.”

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In its bankruptcy filing, the company claimed that changing customer preferences led to a decline in sales.

“More and more brides are choosing non-traditional wedding attire, including second-hand wedding dresses,” the bankruptcy filing read. has significantly exacerbated the financial crisis of

Weddings have yet to return to pre-pandemic levels as fewer couples decide to get married, according to CDC data earlier this year.

Marriage rates were already declining in the U.S. in the early 1980s, according to the agency.