Consumer Trends

Online Shopping

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought along changes in consumer behaviour, which has a great impact on companies’ marketing strategy. (WARC, 2022) Therefore, consumers became more comfortable shopping online, 39% making this a habit (YouGov, 2021) without giving up on in-store experiences, which leads to the need of omnichannel retailing, “which is expected to become the key area of continuing perfection and expansion for all ranks of jewellery players in upcoming years. “ (Euromonitor International, 2020)

Omnichannel Retail

The majority of consumers prefer the blend of online and offline shopping, seeking value, good service and convenience. The main reasons for shopping in-store instead of online are immediacy, the possibility of interacting with the product (seeing, touching, trying on) and finding exactly what they are looking for. (YouGov, 2021)

Product Personalization

In order to survive in the digital age, it is vital for companies to make personalised product recommendations to consumers. As an example, one of Swarovski’s key competitors, Pandora, revealed that they use personal data to enable better customization of the shopping experience, which increased the number of items added to cart in 2021. (Euromonitor International, 2021) Moreover, 74% of consumers trust Artificial Intelligence when shopping, which enhances the need of businesses to adapt and implement such technologies in their strategy. (YouGov, 2021)

Gift Giving

Jewellery shops such as Swarovski or Pandora are among the most favorite shopping destinations for celebrations like Valentine’s day, which leads to very crowded stores during this period. Given space constraints, sales assistants have a difficult time helping every customer and therefore brands have introduced the use of vending machines in their stores. However, there are certain limitations to this approach, such as limited selection, choosing products with a lower price that don’t require fittings, etc. (Euromonitor International, 2016)

Moreover, the majority of consumers are last-minute shoppers, preferring to shop in store so they can get the gift as soon as possible. However, if other fast delivery methods are possible, only 27% of consumers would still prefer to go to the shop. (Cision, 2020)