Why am I writing about the Manufacturing Jewelers and Suppliers of America? Well, cos they started writing about us first!
In an article entitled MJSA Creates Custom Jeweler Membership (the article was in essence advertising a new service to a small segment of manufacturing jewellers in America) that appeared as their latest news feed, I noticed this;
“…custom design has become an area of growth for many retailers. In the most recent Cost of Doing Business Report published by Jewelers of America, the “designer/artist/custom jewelers” category was the only one in which median sales increased—by 3.1 percent.”
Hmm, I’m listening. Then they carried on with this;
“And as industry analyst Ken Gassman notes, the twenty-something “Millennial” generation has a high interest in personalized products, which suggests continued growth for retailers who offer custom services, particularly in bridal.”
Now, discounting the bridal part (well who hasn’t done that at some stage eh? Oh, just me?…) this is interesting news for those of us who occupy the ‘designer/artist/custom’ end of the manufacturing spectrum.
This means that we should all be making a fortune, surely? OK, so maybe it’s more along the lines that while the rest of market is just chugging along, we’re actually starting to appeal to the masses.
I feel this might be something that the artist jewellers knew all along – we’re the trendsetters!