Luxury retail sales decreased during the first five months of the year compared to the same period last year.
However, in May, luxury spending showed a better-than-expected performance, experiencing a smaller decline of 1.7% year over year, following larger declines in previous months (6.8% decline in April and 8.5% decline in March).
The big picture: Despite the overall decline in luxury spending, jewelry sales emerged as a notable exception by consistently outperforming other categories such as leather goods and ready-to-wear.
- Luxury jewelry spending increased each month since September, with a significant surge of 10.1% year over year in May, marking the consistent growth of the jewelry segment.
- In contrast to other product categories that were buoyed by increases in average spend per customer, jewelry was the only product type to also experience an increase in the number of individual customers.
- Within the jewelry category, while a high-end brand lost 2.7% of its customers, the remaining customers spent 11.7% more on average, indicating a shift in consumer behavior toward more lavish jewelry purchases.
Go deeper: Luxury watch spending has shown some gains, albeit less consistently than jewelry, indicating varying performance across different luxury product segments.
- While overall spending on luxury watches increased by 14.7% compared to May 2024, top watch brands experienced a 10% decline in spending in May on an annual basis.
