Jewelers Rethink Bling to Reach Millennials
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Your Money Briefing.
Money and Market Stories from The Wall Street Journal. I'm J.R. Whalen in New York. A lot of businesses have mastered the art of marketing to millennials, but for the jewelry industry, it's a work in progress. We'll have details in a moment. First, these money headlines. A construction rebound in several parts of the country as well as a lingering apartment boom propelled housing starts last month to the highest level since 2007. Housing starts rose 5% in May from the prior month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1.35 million. And compared to a year earlier, starts were up 20.3%. Housing construction appears on track to have a slightly better year than many economists had predicted, thanks in part to a surprisingly strong multifamily growth.
But there could be some challenges ahead for home builders. Rising lumber prices have added nearly $9,000 to the cost of a new home since January 2017. A study by researchers at American University Hood College and McDaniel College in Maryland says that men and women have very different relationships when it comes to their credit cards. Researchers combed data from the Federal Reserve's survey of consumer finances from 2004 to 2013, and among men and women who had never been married, women are less likely to use a credit card for luxury purposes. In fact, a woman who had been unemployed is about twice as likely as a man in a similar position to say borrowing for luxuries is a poor decision. Also, women surveyed were 6% more likely than men to use debt for living expenses.
This is your Money Briefing from The Wall Street Journal. Welcome back, everybody. As the saying goes, all that glitters is gold. But for high-end jewelers, the shine has come off the goods when millennials are the target audience. And Wall Street Journal style reporter Ray Smith joins us to discuss. So, Ray, the idea of marketing glitzy, fancy jewelry to the parents and grandparents of millennials, that wasn't really a problem.
No, it wasn't. They tended to follow the tradition of buying fine jewelry or high-end jewelry once they reached certain life milestones, whether it be a wedding or graduation from graduate school. And it was just a tradition also of dressing up when you were going out, whether it was a social event or even weddings. And so people dressed more formally, and the expectation was that you would buy jewelry for those kinds of occasions and events as well.
And as you write in your Wall Street Journal story, the jewelry industry has really had to rewrite its business plans because people in their 20s and their 30s, they wear jewelry in much more different and creative ways.
Absolutely. Millennials are mixing and matching jewelry. So in some cases, they're mixing high and low jewelry. Basically, they like to DIY. They take a DIY approach to jewelry. So they're mixing and matching, but they're also customizing. They're going for funky or even more eclectic kind of jewelry. It's just the way that they dress these days. It's more streetwear dominated in fashion. And they're trying to figure out ways to make jewelry apply to the way they dress. They don't dress as formally as in the past. They don't have to. And so they're really finding jewelry that sort of fits their lifestyles today.
You know, for jewelers, this is a tough task because it's one thing to convince millennials to buy jewelry for special occasions. It's another to convince them to consider purchases for themselves at any time.
That's right. And the idea of self-purchasing jewelry is a big push for these jewelry makers. The idea that You don't have to wait to be gifted or you don't have to wait for a special occasion. And this is a push they're especially making among women who in previous generations were sort of expected to wait until jewelry was gifted to them. And this idea of jewelry that you self-purchase and you buy anytime, that you don't just buy and store away until you have reason to wear it. Jewelers right now are really pushing the idea of you can wear jewelry anytime you want.
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