OREANDA-NEWS  According to the results of the first quarter of 2023, eight percent less jewelry was sold in Russia than in the same period last year. This is reported by Forbes with reference to a study by the Sokolov analytical center.

The total turnover of jewelers for this period amounted to 80 billion rubles. With a decrease in sales, the average check increased by 8.7 percent, to 7371 rubles.

Market participants explain the drop in demand by a number of factors, in particular, the effect of the high base of last year. In the first quarter of 2022, with the aggravation of the geopolitical crisis, Russians began to buy gold jewelry more often — demand increased sharply against the background of an increase in the exchange value of the precious metal, said Alina Kolpakova, head of the Sokolov analytical center.

In addition, the market was negatively affected by the departure of popular Western brands from the country. Last year, they accounted for about 10 percent of sales.

By the end of 2022, the Russian jewelry retail market has decreased by nine percent year-on-year. The decrease in spending is explained by the increase in the cost of jewelry: they rose by 14.2 percent in December 2022 compared to the same period a year earlier.