Shut-ins set rings flying out door

Lockdown has played into the love story for many New Zealanders and now engagement-ring sales have become booming business for jewellers.

Jewellers credit more cash in Kiwis’ pockets as international travel remains off the cards and a renewed focus on what is important in life for the recent surge in ring sales.

Rachel Sloane, founder and creative director of Auckland jewellery business Naveya & Sloane, said lockdown had left couples feeling the love.

A flurry of proposals and the renewed appreciation for partners had

A lot of them probably moved in with their partner for the first time . . . it totally made you. Layla Kaisi

been a sliver lining to lockdown, she said.

“It’s times like these which see people sit back and realise what’s really important in life, I think that’s been a huge driver for many of our clients who have decided to ask the big question,” Sloane told the Weekend Herald.

She said a desire to support local business had also been a large contributor to an increase in sales.

Layla Kaisi, owner of Layla Kaisi Collection, said her High St business had experienced a surge in engagement ring sales following the lift in lockdown restrictions.

“As soon as we started to go into level 3 and beyond, business started to trickle back slowly and then it started flooding back and engagement [rings] are flying out the door right now,” said Kaisi, who opened the studio shop in 2017.

Sales are now triple what they were prior to lockdown and Kaisi attributes the surge to more money being spent in the country with the borders closed, lockdown forcing people to save their money — and couples making the decision to move in with each other. “With lockdown, people had to very quickly decide where they were going to live; a lot of them probably moved in with their partner for the first time and they stuck it through those weeks. I think if lockdown didn’t break you it totally made you because [people] realised if you can make this time with a partner, then you can see a whole future with them,” she said.

Kaisi also said a push towards buying local had also likely contributed, as she had been told by some of her clients that they had originally planned to buy a ring online with a brand based outside New Zealand.

“It was a trifecta of things that made it a perfect storm for a engagement period.”

The classic white diamond was still the most popular stone for engagement rings, but champagne and peach-coloured diamonds and sapphires had also proven popular in recent weeks, she said.

“Even with my suppliers, they’re having trouble keeping up with demand.”

New Zealanders spend between $7-$9 billion on international travel each year.

While it is estimated that about a third of that will not be spent this year, that is still a large proportion of discretionary income that could be circulating in the domestic economy.

The Herald has also reported on a surge in car and bike and e-bike sales in recent weeks. Another jeweller said sales of engagement rings at his business were also up on prelockdown levels.

When the store first opened back up after lockdown its sales spiked about 15-20 per cent and now were sitting at about 10-12 per cent up on prelockdown levels.

The store owner also put the increase in demand down to couples realising they wanted to commit to each other after enduring lockdown together.

He said he expected sales to even back out over the next few months.

“People can’t travel now, they can’t spend their money travelling and going away abroad, so they are either putting more money into jewellery purchases or spending it in other ways,” he said.

“There’s been a slight increase in the average spend, and diamonds are still the number one choice.”

The average spend on an engagement ring prior to lockdown was between $7000 and $12,000, but this was now between $7000 and $15,000, he said.