CaratUp 8.6%, in fewer boxes: America's half-year at the jewelry counter
US jewelry revenue grew 8.6% in the first half and 13% in June, per Tenoris — but the average ticket rose 19% while unit sales fell. Bracelets led at +14%; lab-grown grew on units, natural diamonds on price.
American jewelry retail just printed a strong half built on a narrow base. Revenue rose 8.6% in the first six months of 2026 against the same period last year, according to retail analytics firm Tenoris, and June alone grew 13% — acceleration, not fade, into the summer.
An 8.6% half that rides a 19% ticket is thinner than it looks — revenue is up because each customer spends more, not because there are more customers. The number to watch into the holidays is the one nobody prints in a headline: how many boxes actually leave the store.
| Figure | |
|---|---|
| Average Ticket | +19% |
| Bracelets, Revenue | +14% |
| June Revenue | +13% |
| H1 Revenue, All | +8.6% |
IA strong half, narrowly built
The engine, though, is price: the average purchase rose 19% across the half and 20% in June, while the number of items sold kept falling.
IIWhere the units went
The unit decline is concentrated where most customers live. Pieces priced under $1,500 — the bulk of American jewelry transactions — continue to shrink in unit terms, which means the growth is being carried by fewer, wealthier purchases.
Tenoris notes the shift favors specialty jewelers who lean into premium merchandise; it is harder news for anyone whose business is built on volume at the entry price points, where gold at $4,000 an ounce has quietly repriced the starter category out of its own customers' budgets.
By category, bracelets were the half's best performer, up 14% with double-digit growth in spend per item. Pendants and earrings grew more slowly but held solid; pearl jewelry, in Tenoris's telling, was a quiet standout — a thread this paper pulls separately today on the Gemstones desk.
IIITwo diamond machines
The diamond counter split into two machines running opposite programs. Natural diamond jewelry managed single-digit revenue growth on declining units and rising average prices — fewer stones, dearer stones.
Lab-grown diamond jewelry posted double-digit revenue growth driven by unit gains rather than price, the category still converting new customers even as its per-carat values sit near their floor. Same showcase, two different businesses.
01Method · the desk’s arithmetic+
Price is growing more than twice as fast as revenue — units make up the difference, downward
02Sources1 document
Same-store, plus 39%: Hong Kong's gold counters run hot
The same story in Cantonese: price-led counters, gold doing the selling
The trade, filed before the New York open.
Prices, tenders and the one story that moved the industry overnight. Ninety seconds.
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