UK jewellery consumer habits are shifting, with numbers of hallmarked items sharply down, and town centres transforming, but jewellery stock values are rising due to the impact of buoyant gold prices, John Henn, President of Sector B, told the CIBJO Congress. Sector B largely covers the retail jewellery sector.

In the last 20 years, 27 million fewer items of jewellery are being hallmarked in the UK, Mr. Henn reported.

Mr. Henn referred to a reduction in the sale of hallmarked articles caused by some private transactions within certain segments of the retail market, and a rise in retail internet sales, with some jewellery buyers apparently not aware if goods were correctly hallmarked.

He also referred to a fall in occupied office space in major cities including London, a large number of closures of brick-and-mortar retail stores across the board, and a sharp drop in marriages in the United Kingdom in recent years, which had eroded engagement and wedding ring sales.

The buoyant gold price has boosted the value of stock held by jewellery retail stores in the country, Mr. Henn said.

This trend was largely due to the recent surge in gold prices to a series of all-time highs.

Mr. Henn, who owns an independent jewellery business based in Wolverhampton in central England, also spoke of a transformation of the high street in the UK due to the changing face of retail linked to increased digital retail sales.

He spoke of his own personal experience, informing the CIBJO Congress plenary of the recent arrival on his central Wolverhampton street of a fifth betting shop within a nearby radius of his store. The new arrival will boost the tax revenues received by the local authorities, but at the cost of the retail customer experience, Mr .Henn said.

Mr. Henn concluded with an appeal for market information from other jewellery markets, which can be distributed internationally, as well as being reported upon at future congresses.