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samedi 30 mai 2009
mercredi 20 mai 2009
Platinum pricing chaos impacting manufacturers
Platinum prices plummeted in April, with the precious metal losing nearly 10% of its value in just two days. The sharp decline could hit jewellery manufacturers as volatile base metal prices make it difficult to price pieces.
Due to high mark-ups, the design-led market will be less affected by fluctuating platinum prices, but Johnson Matthey’s Neill Swan said that wedding band manufacturers could be at risk. “Wedding bands are closer to a commodity,” he explained.
Some manufacturers have tried to implement price band structures to help stave off the effects of fluctuating prices. However, the quick pace of price changes has meant that companies are faced with moving bands several times a week
vendredi 15 mai 2009
Lily Allen to launch jewellery line
Lily Allen to launch jewellery line
Singer wants to get more involved in fashion
Lily Allen wants to create her own jewellery collection.
The singer, who has designed clothes for high street store New Look, hopes the range will be out ‘the back end of this year.’
‘There are lots of things I want to do in my life,’ she told Capital Radio.
‘I just don’t know what they are yet. I am quite unnatural in front of the camera.
'It can be a little bit intimidating but fun on some levels.’
Italy Q1 jewellery exports down over 10 percent
* Q1 jewellery export volumes fall more than 10 percent
* Modest positive signs recently, full-year export to fall
* Lobbying to cut U.S. import duties on hold for now
(Adds comments, details)
By Svetlana Kovalyova
MILAN, May 14 (Reuters) - The volume of precious metal jewellery exports from Italy, Europe's top producer, fell more than 10 percent in the first quarter of 2009 and full year exports are set to decline due to weak demand, a senior industry official said.
Jewellery manufacturing is the main consumer of gold and other precious metals. Falling export tonnages from Italy, the world's leading exporter of gold jewellery, mean demand for the metals from jewellery makers has been dropping too.
"I am afraid export volumes fell more than 10 percent in the first quarter," Stefano de Pascale, director of Italian goldsmiths' body Federorafi, told Reuters on Thursday in a telephone interview, revising his earlier forecast of an 8-10 percent fall.
Full-year export volumes would also fall, despite some modest signs of recovery in purchase orders by clients and of metal purchases by jewellers, de Pascale said.
"We should wait and see if these small signals gain strength in the second half of this year... But they will not be able to reverse the negative trend and the year will close with a minus sign," he said, while declining to give precise forecasts.
De Pascale hoped the fall in sales would slow in the second half of 2009, with wholesale and retail buyers resuming purchases after a destocking period that has lasted several months because the economic crisis has hit consumer demand.
But it would require strong signs of recovery in the global economy and consumer demand to reverse the decline of Italian jewellery sales since the early 2000s, he said.
Italy sells abroad about 70 to 75 percent of the jewellery it makes and it used to dominate world markets. It has lost market shares to rivals from lower cost India, China and Turkey which have improved quality over past few years.
Last year exports of Italian precious metals jewellery fell 13 percent to 211.8 tonnes, according to data from another industry body, Club degli Orafi.
De Pascale said Federorafi had put on hold its efforts to push for a cut in U.S. import duties on European Union jewellery, which put Italian manufacturers at a disadvantage with their non-EU rivals on the world's key jewellery market.
"We are waiting to see clear signals from the Obama administration of what its trade policy is going to be," de Pascale said.
In the meantime, Italian jewellers would back a "zero duty" initiative to cut import duties on jewellery and some other goods as part of World Trade Organization talks, he said.
* Modest positive signs recently, full-year export to fall
* Lobbying to cut U.S. import duties on hold for now
(Adds comments, details)
By Svetlana Kovalyova
MILAN, May 14 (Reuters) - The volume of precious metal jewellery exports from Italy, Europe's top producer, fell more than 10 percent in the first quarter of 2009 and full year exports are set to decline due to weak demand, a senior industry official said.
Jewellery manufacturing is the main consumer of gold and other precious metals. Falling export tonnages from Italy, the world's leading exporter of gold jewellery, mean demand for the metals from jewellery makers has been dropping too.
"I am afraid export volumes fell more than 10 percent in the first quarter," Stefano de Pascale, director of Italian goldsmiths' body Federorafi, told Reuters on Thursday in a telephone interview, revising his earlier forecast of an 8-10 percent fall.
Full-year export volumes would also fall, despite some modest signs of recovery in purchase orders by clients and of metal purchases by jewellers, de Pascale said.
"We should wait and see if these small signals gain strength in the second half of this year... But they will not be able to reverse the negative trend and the year will close with a minus sign," he said, while declining to give precise forecasts.
De Pascale hoped the fall in sales would slow in the second half of 2009, with wholesale and retail buyers resuming purchases after a destocking period that has lasted several months because the economic crisis has hit consumer demand.
But it would require strong signs of recovery in the global economy and consumer demand to reverse the decline of Italian jewellery sales since the early 2000s, he said.
Italy sells abroad about 70 to 75 percent of the jewellery it makes and it used to dominate world markets. It has lost market shares to rivals from lower cost India, China and Turkey which have improved quality over past few years.
Last year exports of Italian precious metals jewellery fell 13 percent to 211.8 tonnes, according to data from another industry body, Club degli Orafi.
De Pascale said Federorafi had put on hold its efforts to push for a cut in U.S. import duties on European Union jewellery, which put Italian manufacturers at a disadvantage with their non-EU rivals on the world's key jewellery market.
"We are waiting to see clear signals from the Obama administration of what its trade policy is going to be," de Pascale said.
In the meantime, Italian jewellers would back a "zero duty" initiative to cut import duties on jewellery and some other goods as part of World Trade Organization talks, he said.
mardi 12 mai 2009
Online Customer Satisfaction Drops for Many Major Jewelry Retailers
Consumer survey group ForeSee Results found in its latest study that customer satisfaction with major retail Internet websites has fallen. The decline "threatens to smother an online retail recovery," according to ForeSee. Overall satisfaction dropped 3 percent, the group found, and Larry Freed, ForeSee's president and author of the study, said it was a bad time for retailers to drop the ball on customer satisfaction. "Revenue will tell you a lot about past performance, and by that measure, things don't look great. But customer satisfaction will tell us a lot about what's ahead, and more companies are losing ground. That's a real canary in a coal mine for future sales online and offline, loyalty, retention and return visits," Freed said of the results.
The study found that Netflix remained at the top for a fifth year in a row, followed by Amazon, but the largest improvement in customer satisfaction came from retailer Kohl's at kohls.com, with a 6 percent increase from a year ago. Only 16 of the top 100 e-retailers improved, the survey found, while more than half declined. Neiman Marcus' website was hit particularily hard — satisfaction was down 7 percent.
n analysis of the study found that consumers are more price-sensitive than in previous years. "This doesn't mean companies should start slashing prices, but it does reflect the current mood of the consumer," said Freed. "Online shoppers are a savvy group, able to compare price and merchandise at the click of a mouse. In an economy where rising unemployment, plummeting home values and tight credit continue to make headlines, consumers are punishing retailers if they feel prices aren't fair or competitive."
For the websites that sell jewelry, listed in order of highest to lowest ranking, the survey found the following: Customer satisfaction rose 1.2 percent at Amazon.com, and it fell 3.6 percent at QVC.com. There was no change for JCPenney's website jcp.com, and a 2.7 increase at walmart.com. HSN.com dropped 3.8 percent. Kohls.com was up 5.6 percent. Nordstrom.com decreased 1.3 percent. Costco.com grew 2.8 percent. There was no change at SaksFifthAvenue.com. Macys.com declined 2.7 percent. Sears.com was down 1.4 percent. NeimanMarcus.com fell 6.7 percent. Overstock.com dropped 5.4 percent. ShopNBC.com decreased 4.2 percent. BlueNile.com fell 2.8 percent, and bidz.com was down 1.4 percent.
The study found that Netflix remained at the top for a fifth year in a row, followed by Amazon, but the largest improvement in customer satisfaction came from retailer Kohl's at kohls.com, with a 6 percent increase from a year ago. Only 16 of the top 100 e-retailers improved, the survey found, while more than half declined. Neiman Marcus' website was hit particularily hard — satisfaction was down 7 percent.
n analysis of the study found that consumers are more price-sensitive than in previous years. "This doesn't mean companies should start slashing prices, but it does reflect the current mood of the consumer," said Freed. "Online shoppers are a savvy group, able to compare price and merchandise at the click of a mouse. In an economy where rising unemployment, plummeting home values and tight credit continue to make headlines, consumers are punishing retailers if they feel prices aren't fair or competitive."
For the websites that sell jewelry, listed in order of highest to lowest ranking, the survey found the following: Customer satisfaction rose 1.2 percent at Amazon.com, and it fell 3.6 percent at QVC.com. There was no change for JCPenney's website jcp.com, and a 2.7 increase at walmart.com. HSN.com dropped 3.8 percent. Kohls.com was up 5.6 percent. Nordstrom.com decreased 1.3 percent. Costco.com grew 2.8 percent. There was no change at SaksFifthAvenue.com. Macys.com declined 2.7 percent. Sears.com was down 1.4 percent. NeimanMarcus.com fell 6.7 percent. Overstock.com dropped 5.4 percent. ShopNBC.com decreased 4.2 percent. BlueNile.com fell 2.8 percent, and bidz.com was down 1.4 percent.
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