Yes­ter­day I received a media release from IBIS­World, an inde­pen­dent resource for indus­try and mar­ket analy­sis, stat­ing that this year (so far, I imag­ine) sales of high-end jew­elry have been lack­lus­ter and that, “Tiffany & Co. is declin­ing much faster than the jew­elry indus­try as a whole.”

I queried Savan­nah Haspel, Vice-President of Media Rela­tions for IBIS­World, as to how they deter­mined this and what cri­te­ria was used.
In an email mes­sage she responded, “The main cri­te­ria that we have to sup­port a com­ment that Tiffany is declin­ing faster than the indus­try is sim­ply to look at their earn­ings releases and rev­enue declines vs. our indus­try total. Look­ing at their fis­cal Q1 earn­ings (quar­ter ended April 30) sales rev­enue in the Amer­i­cas (best proxy for U.S.) declined 31 per­cent. Their New York-flagship store saw sales decline 32 per­cent. Even cat­a­log and inter­net sales declined 17 per­cent. All of that ties in to the com­ment that lux­ury has taken a big­ger hit than more afford­able alternatives.”

Will there be a “Return to Tiffany”? Nah, accord­ing to IBIS­World, peo­ple will likely be head­ing to Wal­mart instead.