Poor results at the US’s largest diamond retailer reflected a fragmented and changing market rather than a crisis in consumer demand.
Signet Jewelers’ disappointing holiday results had a dampening effect on the industry’s mood. Same-store sales at the US’s largest diamond retailer fell 2% for the 10 weeks that ended January 11. The company slashed its guidance for the fiscal fourth quarter. Its share price fell 22% in one day.
What the results indicated, however, was not so much sluggish consumer demand as a complex US jewelry market that has forced retailers to strategize carefully. The key issue for Signet was product range, the jeweler’s new CEO, J.K. Symancyk, said at the ICR Conference 2025 on Tuesday, a few hours after the sales announcement.
The company suffered from “assortment gaps” in fashion jewelry at the types of price points that appeal to gift-givers, Symancyk said. This problem was visible in the 10 busy days running up to Christmas. More specifically, the executive explained, consumers were entering stores or websites in search of lab-grown diamond fashion jewelry, and Signet was not able to fulfill this.
For the rest of this article: https://rapaport.com/analysis/signet-jewelers-synthetics-and-a-complex-holiday-season/