Editor’s Note
Recent retail data offers cautious optimism for Australia’s jewellery sector, showing resilient consumer spending despite economic pressures. As discretionary purchases hold steady around key retail events, the industry is well-positioned to leverage value-driven demand heading into 2025–26.
Despite ongoing cost-of-living pressures, recent retail data suggests Australian consumers are proving more resilient than many retailers anticipated, offering measured optimism for the jewellery sector as it looks ahead to 2025–26.
Broader retail performance indicates discretionary spending is holding up, particularly around major retail events and experiential categories, with jewellery well positioned to benefit from this trend. The latest Black Friday and Cyber Monday trading period has emerged as a key indicator of consumer sentiment, with industry estimates pointing to a record $6.8 billion in sales across the extended weekend.
For jewellers, the result reinforces a critical message: while shoppers remain price-conscious, they are still willing to spend when value, emotion and timing align.
Analysis from Ragtrader highlights that Australians continue to engage strongly with promotional periods, using major sale events as an opportunity to justify discretionary purchases. Jewellery, particularly in the fashion, gifting and entry-level fine categories, benefits from this deal-driven mindset.
Importantly, the data challenges assumptions that discretionary categories are being avoided altogether. Instead, consumers appear to be delaying purchases and concentrating spend around peak promotional windows, rather than abandoning them.
For jewellery retailers, this behaviour underscores the importance of:
- Well-planned promotional calendars
- Clear value messaging rather than blanket discounting
- Strong visual merchandising and digital campaigns aligned to national retail events
Jewellers that strategically curate sale assortments, rather than discounting entire ranges, are more likely to protect margins while still capturing consumer attention.
One of the more notable insights from the latest Black Friday data is the significant contribution of lower-income shoppers to late-stage sales. This cohort, often assumed to be most constrained by inflation and interest rates, demonstrated a willingness to spend when offers were compelling.
For the jewellery trade, this is a meaningful signal. It suggests that:
- Affordable fine jewellery and quality fashion jewellery continue to resonate
- Flexible price points remain essential in mixed-income catchments
- Entry-level gifting products can drive meaningful volume during peak periods
Rather than trading down entirely, many shoppers appear to be trading strategically – seeking perceived value, durability and emotional appeal, even at modest price points.
As jewellers move through the festive season and into Boxing Day trading, the data supports a balanced approach to stock and promotions.
Key considerations include:
- Ensuring sufficient depth in core gifting lines across accessible price brackets
- Highlighting emotional purchase drivers such as celebration, self-reward and milestones
- Leveraging urgency-driven messaging without over-reliance on discounting
Retailers should also be mindful that consumers are increasingly informed and deliberate. Transparent pricing, clear product storytelling and ethical positioning remain influential, particularly among younger buyers and value-driven households.
While economic pressures are unlikely to disappear in the short term, current indicators suggest consumer confidence is stabilising rather than deteriorating. For jewellers, this points to a trading environment defined less by contraction and more by selective opportunity.
Those best placed to succeed in 2025–26 will be retailers that:
- Align pricing strategies with real-world consumer behaviour
- Invest in omnichannel visibility around key retail events
- Balance aspirational product with accessible entry points
