In Italy the number of jewelers decreases drastically. But the sales of precious online are growing. Not only. Jewelers operating on the web have on average almost double revenues compared to jewelers who have not innovated in the digital world. These are some of the data provided by the director of Federpreziosi (association that brings together part of the Italian jewelers), Steven Tranquilli, during Ecomm Fashion 2020, the first national digital convention entirely dedicated to the world of Italian fashion organized by Velvet Media.
The numbers shown during the online event are interesting: there are over 14,600 jewelers operating in Italy and employing nearly 37 thousand workers. In seven years, however, from 2012 to the beginning of 2020, the sector has lost almost a thousand companies and over 3 thousand employees. The main reasons for the contraction of the distribution fabric, according to Federpreziosi’s analysis, have to do with the progressive reduction of consumption and the advent of e-commerce (and to these factors is added the recent covid emergency).
At the end of December last year, the data relating to sales in jewelers processed by the Federpreziosi Confcommercio Observatory indicated more than 56% of associated companies which reported a worsening of revenues in the last two years (2018-2019) compared to the previous two years (2016 -2017). For 50.3% of these jewelers, the decrease in revenues was attributable to their historical clientele: a figure particularly accentuated in the central and southern regions.
Digital economy
Over the past five years, in Italy, jewelers who have set up a website or even just a page on social networks have increased by 7.1% (they were 66.0% in 2015 and 70.7% in 2019 ). E-commerce businesses are also on the rise: from 52.9% in 2018 to 53.1% in 2019. The figure has doubled over the past five years and indicates that jewelers are understanding (it was now) that digital today represents the key element in the choice of brands and products and they try to seize all the opportunities.
The jewelers operating on the web, as mentioned, have on average almost double revenues compared to those that have not innovated in the digital world. 48.1% of jewelers have both their own website and a profile of their jewelry on social networks, but 22.6% have only the profile on social networks, and 29.3% have no communication strategy.
Facebook is by far the most used social network, almost all jewelers use it. Most of the use of social networks is aimed at gaining visibility (69.0%). 41.5% of the associated jewelers attach great importance to their online offer, if only for reasons of image.
