To say that the retail environment is becoming more challenging is an understatement. The luxury sector, whose customers were once fortified against economic downturns, is starting to feel the sting of higher gold prices and lower consumer confidence. Thriving in this market takes more than making great products. You’ve got to become the best businessperson you can be. That means becoming a more resilient business, one that can handle any surprises geopolitics or the global economy can throw at you, and approaching sales and marketing with a clear understanding of what you’re doing and who you’re doing it for.

Why the Industry Needs RetailFusion

Slow growth, low consumer spending, the high cost of living, geopolitical instability, and the looming threat of recession are all working together to hollow out the middle class, and the repercussions are finally reaching the luxury consumer. Independent jewelers, retailers, vendors, and manufacturers all have to be that much more savvy both operationally and in the way they market. RetailFusion sessions at the Atlanta Jewelry show are focused on the core business skills that help you keep your business a resilient and profitable one. We’re unique among trade shows in that way: we’re not just here to connect retailers and vendors. We’re also dedicated to strengthening the industry through education.

Inventory Control, Pricing, and Operations

To the jeweler who is trained in jewelry but has little in the way of formal business education, business decisions are often rooted in trial and error, gut feelings, or received wisdom. RetailFusion is designed to help you make better decisions in these areas, decisions that are even more important to get right in times of uncertainty.

In this blog post about pricing, we also talked a little about inventory management. Making smart decisions about pricing and inventory requires adaptability and an understanding of the fundamental business knowledge that underpins theories of pricing and inventory. RetailFusion sessions are designed to equip you with all that and more.

Marketing and Sales Messages

Even through the pandemic, when everyone else was tightening their belts, luxury consumers kept spending. Today, everyone except the top 10% of households is thinking twice before they open their wallets for luxury purchases. The top of the top are still spending, but the middle—the income range that might make one or two luxury purchases a year—has seen their purchasing power decrease. It’s not that these customers are ceasing all luxury spending; it’s that they’ll only spend on something meaningful.

These factors make it more important than ever to know your customers, and to know your business and the value it brings to customers. Your sales and marketing messages have to be finely tuned to resonate with your core audience, as we discussed in this post.  

AJS: By the Industry, For the Industry

We’re in the midst of a challenging moment in the jewelry industry. Thriving in this market takes some ingenuity. That’s why AJS is doubling down on its commitment to education. Our show is not only a place for vendors to connect with highly qualified retailers but also for the industry to come together to make sure our industry is a strong one. BenchFusion is the only gathering in the United States designed specifically for bench jewelers, while RetailFusion brings you the practical knowledge that keeps your business competitive. It’s all part of AJS’s drive to bring the brightest minds in the jewelry industry together to forge a new way forward. Together, we can create an industry that is strong today and sustainable long into the future.

The Atlanta Jewelry Show is more than your typical trade show. From RetailFusion and BenchFusion to our FutureFusion youth program and our GIA diamond grading classes, AJS puts education at the forefront of everything we do. Education and professional development is how we strengthen the technical, creative, and business sides of our industry to ensure a prosperous future for us all.

Jewelers of America, the nation’s most trusted trade association of fine jewelry professionals, shares this belief in the power of education. JA is now accepting applications for the Seymour & Evelyn Holtzman Bench Scholarship and the Jewelers of America Scholarship Program.

The Seymour & Evelyn Holtzman Bench Scholarship provides tuition assistance to students enrolled in accredited bench jeweler or metalsmith programs. Applications are open now through June 30, 2026, and recipients will be selected within the next month.

The Jewelers of America Scholarship Program offers funds that may be applied toward programs and certifications offered by the American Gem Society (AGS), American Society of Appraisers (ASA), Diamond Council of America (DCA), Gemological Institute of America (GIA), and National Association of Jewelry Appraisers (NAJA). Applications are open through September 30, 2026, or until funds are fully distributed.

To receive one of these scholarships, applicants must be at least 18 years of age who are currently employed by a JA member store and have at least one year of experience at that store. For more details, follow this link or contact JA Member Services at (800) 223-0673.

Previously, we looked at what high precious metals prices meant for marketing. In this post, we’ll talk about maintaining your margins while you’re spending more for gold and other precious metals. Is this something to worry about? Should we start raising prices? While we’ve never seen precious metals prices rise this high this quickly, how the jewelry industry handled rising prices in the past can guide how we react to the current surge.

The last time we saw such a surge in precious metals prices was 2009, in the wake of the global financial crisis. By 2011 the price of gold climbed to nearly $2000/oz before falling and stabilizing between 2013 and the beginning of the pandemic. That is perhaps the first lesson we should take from the past: this won’t last forever. The war in Iran, as Barron’s reports, has driven the price of oil up, and since oil is traded in USD, central banks are selling their gold reserves to buy dollars, driving the dollar up and gold down. It is possible that gold prices have already peaked for now and might find some balance in the near future.

We’re not making any predictions, though. The market that led to the 2008 crash was irrational, but the 2026 market makes the runup to the last economic crisis look sober and sensible. The market suddenly becoming rational and stable is not something you can plan business strategy around.

Over the long term, however, the value of gold only increases. So even if prices have peaked for now, they will rise again in the future (perhaps—hopefully—not as dramatically), and gold will continue to be a safe bet for those who buy jewelry as an investment.

That’s where the economics of gold are right now. Given the unpredictability and instability of the current global economy, what does this mean for your business? The unsatisfying answer is, unfortunately, it depends on your business and your customers. It’s hard to provide the right answers. What we can do instead is list a few things to consider.

Know your customers. Are they price-conscious? At the lower end of luxury they might be, but the saying “if you have to ask, you can’t afford it” still applies to prices at the higher end of luxury. If you’re the kind of luxury retailer who doesn’t display prices, your customers probably won’t experience sticker shock.

Choose the right pricing strategy. While “cost plus” is a common pricing scheme, your work is worth more than cost of materials plus labor. Your pricing strategy should reflect that. The value of your jewelry comes from its aesthetic beauty and the meaning it holds for customers. This is why we wrote a separate article about precious metals prices and marketing. If you connect with customers on a deep, personal level and clearly communicate the value your products add to their lives, they won’t ask how much it costs.

Consider your inventory order cycle. With the price of precious metals in flux, you might be better off placing smaller orders more often rather than larger orders spread out over a longer period of time.

Transparency. If your customers are price-conscious, be open about how rising costs will affect them. Communicate price changes before they happen to allow your customers to buy jewelry at current prices.

Higher prices might be a good thing. Lower prices, sales, and discounts tend to send the wrong message to luxury consumers: this brand isn’t exclusive, it isn’t high-quality, and it isn’t appealing to people like me because no one is buying it (why else would you put it on sale?).

What if I can’t raise prices? If you’re a jewelry designer, the answer might be to incorporate more silver and platinum into your designs or do more with less. Create the illusion of larger pieces while using less gold or really go all-in on your personal style and what makes you unique as a designer.

Keep the Focus on Your Customers

When the focus turns to cutting costs to maintain margins, it’s easy to lose sight of what really keeps you in business: your customers. That’s why it’s so important for your pricing strategy, your sales strategy, and your marketing strategy to be rooted in the needs of your customers and the way in which you help them fulfill their needs and solve their problems. If you create a clear value proposition and a strong rapport with the people who love your products the most, they’ll be willing to stick with you even as prices rise.

The price of precious metals has been skyrocketing over the past year. While a small reprieve came in mid-March with a slight dip in the price of gold, it resumed its rise through the rest of March and April, with no end to the climb in sight. What’s behind these historic highs? Well…everything. Uncertainty tends to drive precious metals prices up, and one thing we’re certainly lacking right now is certainty. Amid this uncertainty, price consciousness is hitting even luxury consumers. Our challenge now is to demonstrate the value we bring to our customers.

The Luxury Purchase Thought Process

Price hikes hitting standard consumer goods, groceries, and gas are cause for outrage. When times are tough, consumers cut back where they can. It’s hard to cut back on necessities like food and gas. Luxury consumers, on the other hand, aren’t looking to cut their spending on luxury goods but make sure their dollars are well spent. The luxury purchase thought process, especially for younger consumers, is more about value than price. If a product brings real value to someone’s life, they won’t think twice about the price. That’s the job of marketing in this time of ever-increasing prices: communicating your value, making sure customers know that you’re delivering something that is definitely worth it.

Communicating Price Changes

Communicating price changes to customers takes both tact and transparency. First, ask yourself if talking about price is necessary at all. Many high luxury brands don’t even list prices on their website. Talking about price or seeming overly concerned with price is not something many luxury customers are interested in. You have to know your business and know what your customers value before deciding how important talking about price is.

Know Your Value Proposition

When value, not price, is the consumer’s driving concern, jewelry businesses must develop a clear value proposition. Where does the value in your products come from? It’s not just from the metals and gemstones, though purer precious metals and mined gemstones are naturally more valuable. Your value proposition describes the need you are fulfilling for your customers. To create a compelling one, you first have to understand why your customers choose your jewelry.

For legacy luxury brands, the ones that are struggling right now, the value proposition is aspirational: our products will usher you into our kind of lifestyle. That message is no longer resonating with consumers. Where aspirational marketing once felt hopeful, it now comes across as inauthentic. Authenticity is what luxury consumers value. Luxury is less about becoming someone else than it is about being the best version of yourself.  

That’s how luxury brands and retailers can continue to thrive even as legacy brands struggle and all but the highest net worth consumers think a little longer before making a discretionary purchase. Luxury consumers are looking for pieces with something to say, pieces that help them express the inexpressible within themselves. They want to express themselves, not someone else’s vision of what they should be.

The only way to connect with customers looking for that kind of authentic self-expression is to create an authentic brand with authentic values. That means doing what your business does best, and doing it with honesty and conviction. Naturally, this approach won’t appeal to everybody, but when you find the people that your approach does appeal to, they will fall in love and won’t be able to imagine themselves wearing anything else.

Resilient Businesses Build Relationships

Ultimately, maintaining margins as precious metal prices soar and consumers tighten their belts is ultimately a question of business resilience. When your business doesn’t have a clear identity, customers don’t have a clear reason to stick with you. But when you provide a clear value and build honest, authentic relationships, your business becomes a part of your customers’ lives, and they’ll stay with you through anything.