56 / 90
53
The US remains the largest market for diamonds in
the world. Total US retail sales of diamond jewellery
reached pre-2009 downturn levels in 2013 while
polished diamond content in jewellery increased by
20 per cent from 2008. Overall, the US accounted
for approximately 40 per cent of global polished
diamond consumption by value in 2013.
The US consumer market is made up of women’s
jewellery, men’s jewellery and jewellery for adolescent
girls, called ‘teens’ jewellery’. Of those three segments,
women’s jewellery represents by far the largest portion
of total diamond jewellery sales, with well over 90
per cent of sales value.
Traditionally, two major segments of diamond
jewellery have been analysed in the US women’s
category: bridal jewellery (including diamond
engagement rings (DER) and diamond wedding
bands (DWB)) and non-bridal jewellery (which can
be further subdivided into married women’s diamond
jewellery (MWDJ) and single women’s diamond
jewellery (SWDJ)) – see Fig. 32.
Non-bridal diamond jewellery is the largest segment
by value in the US. In 2013, it accounted for over
four in five pieces and about two-thirds of sales value
of women’s DJ. However, compared with the pre-
recession state of the US market, this segment has
lost share both in volume and in value to the bridal
segment (see Fig. 33).
This shift has been driven by two changes. Firstly, the
number of DER pieces sold has increased and the
average price per DER piece has grown even more
rapidly than unit sales. The average DER price is
more than three times higher than the average price
for other women’s jewellery. As a result, in 2013 DER
accounted for a little over one in 10 pieces sold, but
represented close to 28 per cent of retail market value
of women’s DJ.
Secondly, within the non-bridal segment, the two
sub-sets – MWDJ and SWDJ – have behaved quite
differently since the economic downturn. Over this
period, the share of MWDJ has declined in volume
of pieces, while its share of value has gone up slightly.
At the same time, the SWDJ segment has retained its
share of volume, but its share of value has declined.
Note: Area of rectangles reflects approximate proportion of total market by value
F I G . 3 2 :
D I AMOND JEWELLERY ( DJ ) MA I N CONSUMER SEGMENTS I N THE
UN I TED STATES ( 20 1 3 )
Source: De Beers
Men’s &
Teens’ DJ
6
Total DJ demand
100
MWDJ
52
SWDJ
12
Bridal DJ
30
Non-Bridal DJ
64
Men’s DJ
5
Women’s DJ (WDJ)
94
DER
26
DWB
4
Teens’ DJ
1
Per cent of DJ value
THE UNITED STATES
OPPORTUNITIES EMERGING DESPITE CHALLENGING
ECONOMIC CONDITIONS