Personal Accessories

Sales of personal accessories continue to fall, as the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic lead to further disruption, national lockdowns, social distancing, store closures and travel restrictions, causing global demand to suffer. The discretionary…

Writing instruments sales did not decline as strongly during 2020 as other categories within personal accessories as it relies a lot less on international tourism. Instead, sales largely depend on school activities. It is therefore no surprise that…

Watches, with its reliance on international tourists, suffered huge sales losses in 2020. 2021 sales are managing to grow from the lows of 2020, although they are still some way from returning to pre-pandemic levels due to ongoing restrictions on…

Personal accessories in Germany managed to register positive volume and value growth in 2021. After an unprecedented 2020, with double-digit percentage sales declines in all categories, 2021 came with high expectations in terms of recovery.…

Jewellery has immediately returned to positive sales growth in 2021, albeit at just a single-digit percentage rate, after the double-digit percentage decline experienced in 2020 due to the pandemic. It is interesting to note that the high-end segment…

After the sales slump in 2020, bags and luggage managed to gradually claw back its way in 2021 to post positive growth, although still being nowhere near its pre-pandemic sales levels due to prolonged lockdowns and ongoing travel restrictions. Of the…

Jewellery sales in Western Europe slumped in 2020, with Coronavirus (COVID-19), and the measures taken to try and control its spread, having a negative impact on fine jewellery sales in particular. The closure for extended periods of non-essential…

While just a few global players own many of the top-selling personal accessories brands, the industry remains highly fragmented, with unbranded and private label products holding a significant share of sales. With the global trend towards increased…

Writing instruments was affected by the pandemic in 2020, but to a lesser extent than other personal accessories categories, due to its more essential nature for students. During 2021, schools are set to reopen in May on a half-day basis, after home…

Loss of tourist spending in 2020 caused a severe contraction to watch brands’ sales, from high-priced to basic, as tourist spending used to be the major source of revenue with brands focusing on tourists in products and services before the pandemic.

Personal accessories is set to recover, though at a modest pace, in 2021, led by the increasing momentum of premium categories sustained by their relatively resilient consumption from the previous year. The discretionary nature of personal…

Though jewellery has been severely downgraded due to loss of tourist spending in 2020, fine jewellery has performed relatively better than costume jewellery and it is expected to recover faster than costume jewellery in 2021 and beyond. Firstly, in…

Bags and luggage recorded a severe contraction in 2020 due to the loss of tourist spending, cessation of travel and working-from-home arrangements. It is set to recover, though at a limited pace, in 2021, as social restrictions start to ease and…

Writing instruments in Japan was already seeing current value decline prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, due to a shift to paperless operations and a declining birth rate. COVID-19 further had a heavy impact as schools closed during the state of the…

Against the background of a historically high stock market, high watches saw almost full current value sales recovery following the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021. High watches returned much closer to 2019 sales levels in comparison to basic and mid…

Almost one year since the COVID-19 pandemic first came to Japan, the first half of 2021 saw new infection waves and multiple states of emergency or soft lockdowns. Japan has taken soft measures, such as “requesting” people to refrain from going out…

There was some recovery seen over the 2020 holiday season, thanks to the relatively stable infection trends seen in autumn. However, jewellery in Japan largely struggled in the first half of 2021, with this following on from sharp current value…

After a catastrophic year in 2020, bags and luggage players in Japan are experiencing another challenging year with multiple states of emergency and restrictions in 2021. Although restrictions on store operations were relatively light compared to…

Even before the onset of COVID-19, retail current value sales of writing instruments were in steady decline, as many local consumers increasingly used computers and particularly smartphones instead of paper. The disruption caused by the pandemic –…

The COVID-19 pandemic saw students and office workers stranded in their homes. There was a decline in demand for writing instruments as a result, as work that was earlier being conducted using writing instruments shifted to digital devices. To tackle…