Jewelry, Watch, Precious Stones & Metals Wholesalers NAICS 423940

Jan 19, 2026 - US Jewelry Market Up in 2025

• According to Tenoris, the US jewelry market grew 5.6% in 2025, driven largely by higher average spending per item, despite a decline in unit sales, signaling continued consumer trade-up behavior. For wholesalers, this trend underscores a shift toward premium and well-designed jewelry, including larger diamonds, wedding sets, and tennis bracelets. Loose natural diamond sales, however, continued to decline, losing market share to lab-grown diamonds, though average prices per unit rose, reflecting a preference for larger stones. Lab-grown diamonds showed rising unit sales but shrinking revenues due to moderating price declines. Gold jewelry revenues rose 11% amid a 30% price increase, while unit sales fell 16%. To protect margins, wholesalers increasingly relied on memo arrangements and higher gross margins, allowing inventory flexibility in a market with uneven demand. Overall, wholesalers must balance stock of high-value items with careful management of price-sensitive categories to sustain profitability.
• The US jewelry, watch, precious stones, and metals wholesale industry is projected to grow at a CAGR of 4.75% between 2025 and 2029, according to a forecast from Inforum and the Interindustry Economic Research Fund, Inc. The expected growth rate is faster than the overall economy‘s anticipated growth. The report noted that retail and wholesale trade sectors are driven by consumer spending along with business and government expenditures. Consumer sentiment is expected to improve in the forecast period, which bodes well for the retail and wholesale industries. Retail, wholesale, and other industries rely heavily on foreign markets and on the future of the trade market, as well as frequently depend heavily on foreign-born workers. Changes to US trade policy, immigration, and international events will affect these sectors over a longer horizon. The sector's investment in data centers, AI, and other technologies could boost labor productivity, with further productivity gains potentially stemming from improvement to public infrastructure.

• Jewelry and watch prices were nearly 5% higher in December 2025, compared to the previous year, according to the Consumer Price Index by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Prices for the category were down 1.5% from the previous month. Employment by jewelry, watch, precious stone, and metal merchant wholesalers rose 7.3% in August 2025 compared to a year ago, according to the BLS. Employment in the industry for the past decade has fallen by 16.8%, lower than the 13% growth in overall private employment. Average wages for the nonsupervisory employees in the industry grew 1.6% in August 2025 year over year, reaching $29.30 per hour. Producer inflation for all wholesale trade industries, which includes jewelry, watch, precious stones, and metal wholesalers, was up 4.4% in September 2025 compared to a year ago, according to producer price data released by the BLS.
• US consumer sentiment rose modestly in January 2026, with the University of Michigan index up to 54.0 from December, the highest since September 2025, though it remains about 25% below January 2025 levels. Expectations improved slightly, but both present conditions and outlook scores are markedly weaker than a year ago, reflecting ongoing concerns about high prices, labor market softness, and economic uncertainty. Year ahead inflation expectations held at 4.2%, above longer term comfort levels. For US jewelry wholesalers, this cautious sentiment suggests continued pressure on discretionary spending. Jewelry is a luxury category closely tied to consumer confidence; weaker sentiment and elevated inflation expectations typically lead households to delay or reduce purchases of non essential items. Reduced discretionary budgets may compel wholesalers to emphasize value driven lines, promotions, and inventory flexibility to sustain sales in a restrained consumer spending environment.