Up 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.
By The Counter Desk
What changed
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.
What it means
- 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.
Key figures
| JEWELRY REVENUE | +8.6% |
|---|---|
| ACCELERATING | +13% |
| AVG PURCHASE, H1 | +19% |
| BEST CATEGORY | +14% |
Source: America's half, per Tenoris
A 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.
Growth, by engine · percent, H1 2026
Source: America's half, per Tenoris
Where 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.
| Figure | |
|---|---|
| Average Ticket | +19% |
| Bracelets, Revenue | +14% |
| June Revenue | +13% |
| H1 Revenue, All | +8.6% |
Price is growing more than twice as fast as revenue — units make up the difference, downward Tenoris retail panel, H1 2026. Carat Capital graphics desk.
Two 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.
The story so far
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Method
Price is growing more than twice as fast as revenue — units make up the difference, downward