The jewelry industry is an emerging industry that has been separated from the jewelry and craft gift industries. With the development of the economy and society, people have begun to pursue fashion and individuality in addition to meeting basic living needs, which has promoted the development of this emerging industry.
Jewelry companies entered mainland China primarily from two sources. First, in the early 1980s, jewelry manufacturers from Hong Kong and Taiwan relocated to Guangdong, gradually forming the current Guangdong jewelry industry cluster. Second, in the late 20th century, South Korean jewelry manufacturers relocated to Qingdao, gradually forming the current Qingdao jewelry industry cluster. The formation of the Yiwu jewelry industry cluster is quite unique. It initially relied on the world’s largest small commodity market, and then domestic manufacturers imported jewelry and production technology from Guangdong, gradually forming a jewelry industry cluster starting in the early 1990s.
Related report: Beijing Puhua Youce Information Consulting Co., Ltd.’s “2018-2025 Jewelry Industry Panoramic Survey and Investment Development Strategy Analysis Report”
At present, the jewelry industry is in a stage of stable and rapid development. In the next few years, with the continued rapid growth of the national economy and the continuous improvement of people’s material and cultural living standards, consumption in the jewelry industry will surely move forward in greater strides.
2. Industry Prospects
The jewelry industry is a highly market-oriented industry with numerous competitors, low market concentration, and fierce competition among brands. International brands such as Alexandre Paris, Alexandre Swarovski, and Swarovski primarily produce high-end luxury jewelry. Leveraging their strong brand image and sophisticated management, they have established a strong reputation in the domestic market, enjoying strong competitiveness and occupying a large share of the domestic luxury jewelry market. Well-known domestic brands such as Artini, Italina, Fashion Beauty, Xinguang Jewelry, and She’s leverage their strengths and unique features in R&D, design, production, and service to compete in the national market and strive to expand internationally. These brands continuously improve their competitiveness and market share amidst competition, and have a strong influence among domestic peers and consumers. Meanwhile, a large number of domestic second-tier brands and small, local manufacturers lack a nationwide presence and focus on regional markets, though a few of these companies are relatively competitive in these markets. Most of these companies produce low-priced products and primarily compete in the local mass market.
Benefiting from changes in consumption structure, my country’s jewelry industry has shown a trend of rapid development. In the next ten years, the number of middle-class consumers in the country will show a geometric growth trend. The expansion of the middle class will inevitably promote the rapid growth of jewelry consumer goods.
Although China’s per capita jewelry consumption has increased significantly in recent years, compared with developed countries in the world, China’s per capita jewelry consumption is significantly lower. If my country’s per capita jewelry consumption level can reach the level of the above-mentioned countries in the future, there will be huge room for the development of my country’s jewelry.
3. Industry development trends
The jewelry industry is currently experiencing a period of stable and rapid development. In the coming years, with the continued rapid growth of the national economy and the continuous improvement of people’s material and cultural living standards, jewelry consumption is expected to grow even faster. With the development of China’s second- and third-tier cities, the jewelry consumption demand of urban and rural residents will also bring rare development opportunities to jewelry companies.
The basic development trend of accessories can be summarized as follows:
(1) Jewelry-like accessories. Due to the demands and changes in the market environment, the trend of popular accessories developing towards semi-jewelry will be a major trend. Today’s fashion accessories are more and more developing in the direction of semi-jewelry. The new products launched by branded accessories today are all very good at conveying this message. In terms of product style, design style, and color matching of accessories, they are gradually moving closer to jewelry. Well-known jewelry brands will lead this trend in advance, and it will be reflected and popularized in the market within the next two years.
(2) Accessories are becoming accessories. Currently, accessories are gradually evolving towards jewelry and accessories. Accessories are a major area of future fashion industry development, with huge potential for future development. Many accessories companies have been communicating with clothing companies and negotiating cooperation. A large number of clothing companies have also entered the accessories industry. The integration of the clothing and accessories industries has become a trend in the accessories industry. Following the development trend of international fashion models, a large number of clothing brand companies have begun to develop accessories such as hats, scarves, bags, and accessories through multiple channels.
(3) Jewelry branding. Today’s market has become polarized. On the one hand, there are large enterprises with R&D and production capabilities and high brand awareness. In today’s environment, these enterprises still maintain a high sales growth. On the other hand, most small and medium-sized jewelry companies are affected by the impact of the external market and their own lack of competitiveness, and their profits are constantly declining. At present, China’s jewelry brand construction is still in its infancy. The degree of scale, international brand influence, and brand added value are still relatively lacking. This has become one of the prominent bottlenecks for China’s jewelry industry to participate in economic globalization. Therefore, for a considerable period of time in the future, jewelry branding is inevitable.
(4) E-commerce of jewelry. Most jewelry companies have their own e-commerce teams. Some companies even spend a lot of money to hire experienced e-commerce operation teams to develop online marketing channels. Well-known brand companies have achieved good results in the e-commerce field. And a large number of small and medium-sized jewelry companies have also invested in e-commerce operations.
(5) Market segmentation. The overall market conditions in the jewelry industry are sluggish, which is an indisputable fact. Despite the impact of the overall environment, strong brands have not stopped expanding. These brand companies have strengthened their brand influence by means of channel penetration, channel expansion, refined operations, and product chain improvement. Currently, new and cutting-edge brands in the industry’s niche markets are constantly emerging. The market is gradually being segmented, and the pattern of segmented fields is becoming more prominent.
(6) Layout diversification. Yiwu, Guangzhou, and Qingdao are the three major jewelry production and wholesale bases in the jewelry industry. The Guangzhou jewelry market is mainly focused on the wholesale of mid-to-high-end jewelry; Yiwu is still mainly focused on the wholesale of low-priced, mid-to-low-end products. Under these conditions, the domestic jewelry market has undergone significant changes, and the market layout has become diversified.
(7) Businesses that are not doing well will be eliminated. Large brand companies that have already established themselves in the industry have built up a good reputation and a good order volume. Small and medium-sized enterprises, which account for about 70%, are in danger of closing down at any time in the face of the current difficulties. The problems currently encountered by the jewelry industry are common and fundamental. It is not a temporary slowdown, but a structural slowdown. If they cannot find a way to transform, they will eventually be eliminated. Only brand companies with good reputation and influence in the industry will remain, and the phenomenon of survival of the fittest in the industry will begin to emerge.
