Domenica Graci, the CEO and founder of the Travel Agency, One Luxury, is seen with an Alhambra Vintage Golden Van Cleef & Arpels bracelet, a Dorado de Cartier's love bracelet, an Golden Golden Unlord Unlu de Cartier nail bracelet and a bracelet of essential lines of Cartier.
Moritz Scholz | Getty Images Entertainment | Getty images
The luxury retail trade was expected to organize a change in 2025 after a promising fourth quarter marked by Christmas purchases and euphoria after the elections. On the other hand, the US credit card spending. UU. In luxury goods it fell during the first five months of the year compared to the same period in 2024, according to Citigroup data.
For the month of May, the luxury expense remained better than expected, immersing 1.7% year after year, compared to a 6.8% decrease in April and 8.5% in March. Combined spending for the best luxury brands, such as HermesIt even obtained an annual increase of 0.2%, according to the citi analysis of a subset of transactions by the more than 10 million holders of American cards from the bank.
However, these profits are not equally distributed. Jewelry has proven to be a brilliant point, constantly overcoming other categories such as leather and clothing items ready to wear.
The monthly expense in luxury jewels has increased annually every month since September, according to Citi. In May, the total expenditure of luxury jewels increased by 10.1% year after year.
In addition, while other categories were driven by increases in the average expenditure by the client, the jewels were the only type of product that also saw an increase in individual customers. However, within the jewelry category, a cohort of high -end brands lost 2.7% of customers, but those who remained spent 11.7% more on average.
Citi Thomas Chauvet analyst told CNBC that sales have probably been driven by the perception of jewelry as investment pieces. Jewels can also have a more sentimental value, he said, as a gift or to commemorate a milestone in life.
“When you have $ 3,000 to spend on luxury, you know, are you going to buy a piece of jewelry or a bag for the same price?” said. “Perhaps the jewelry piece gives you a higher intrinsic value given the content of precious metals and the upper emotional value and the meaning.”
Chauvet added that the recent resource in gold prices provides additional justification.
“It is probably sensible to buy a Cartier bracelet now, since prices have increased by less than 5% since the beginning of 2025, when gold prices have been appreciated by more than 25%,” he said.
The brands of the bags, on the other hand, have constantly increased prices of up to 30% to 40% since the pandemic without the consumer obtaining more for their money, he said.
“The bags have offered a limited novelty,” said Chauvet, with the warning that some autumn and winter 2025 collections showed some promise. “In the last five years, from brand A to brand B, most of the forms and styles of bags are very difficult to differentiate from each other.”
The luxury watch spending has seen some profits this year, but less consistently than that of the jewels. In all luxury watches brands, the expense increased 14.7% compared to May 2024. However, the results for the main watches brands fell 10% in May annually.
Although the waves of Swiss watches exports have reached the headlines, Chauvet said it was largely driven by retailers who supply and observe manufacturers that run to the products to the US subsidiaries in reaction to the threat of 31% of the Swiss goods of President Donald Trump.
The increase in expenses in May may reflect an elevation in the feeling of the consumer, but not necessarily a turning point for high -end buyers, according to Chauvet. While variable rental markets have recovered, the US dollar has dropped approximately 10% to date.
“We know that the American consumer feels better with life when the dollar is strong,” he said. “An example of that in luxury is its ability to travel and spend abroad in luxury is increased by a strong dollar.”
Other potential threats for consumer spending are large. The 90-day pause in the so-called reciprocal Trump rates is less than two weeks after expiring, and the Iran-Israel conflict has traveled oil prices, said Chauvet.
