U.S. Consumers Spend Big On Jewelry In February

In great news for the diamond industry, consumers continued to spend in February, especially online, with jewelry being one of the big winners.

Despite some terrible weather in many parts of the United States last month, buyers showed up in big numbers ahead of Valentine’s Day.

Overall U.S. retail sales were up 4.6% on the year, according to MastercardSpending Pulse, which measures all forms of payment in retail sales whether in-store or online.

“While in-store sales decelerated slightly as a result of winter storms, consumers are continuing to show up online,” said Mastercard. “From jewelry to apparel, e-commerce has opened doors for consumers to shop online while warmer days, widespread vaccinations and the loosening of restrictions appear on the horizon.”

Consumers shopped strongly ahead of Valentine’s Day, with jewelry spending up 5.9% in the malls and stores, and 63.1% up online year-over-year.

Online sales took a hit however in areas and states that were struck by power outages, such as Texas.

As the weather improved, however, there was a wave of renewed spending with daily year-over-year rates of more than 30%.