All About The Bling! Atlanta Jewelry Show Begins This Weekend

ATLANTA — One of the nation's largest trade shows comes to Atlanta this weekend, as the city welcomes jewelers from across the southeast to the 69th annual Atlanta Jewelry Show. To coincide with the event, Citi Retail Services commissioned a survey of 500 Atlanta residents to offer insights into their unique jewelry shopping habits and preferences.

The results? Despite the fact that retail is undergoing an immense transformation and retailers are the era of online shopping, Atlanta residents love to shop for jewelry in-person. Sixty-two percent of those surveyed have purchased most or all of their jewelry in-store, and when it comes to the most expensive piece of jewelry they have ever purchased, Atlantans have spent almost 4 times as much in-store ($2,250) as they have online ($600), indicating they are much more confident in making jewelry purchases in-person.

Other findings include:

• What’s driving Atlantans in-store — In addition to spending more, Atlantans (50%) indicate that the top benefit of purchasing jewelry in-store vs. online is that they can inspect it in-person for quality or detail.
• Feeling (not so) sentimental — When it comes to receiving a gift, the majority of Atlantans (54%), would rather receive a more expensive, brand-new piece, than receive a less expensive family heirloom.
• Flexible financing — If they were to finance a purchase, three-quarters (75%) of Atlanta jewelry shoppers, compared to just 69% nationally, would be more likely to select a financing option that could be used across multiple jewelry brands, as opposed to an option that could be used at just one. And 32%, as opposed to 28% nationally, cite financing options as the jewelry service they would be most likely to use, over other services like complimentary cleaning, expert advice, or leasing or rental programs.
• Treating themselves to their favorite bling — Fifty-nine percent of jewelry buyers in Atlanta, compared to 50% nationally, have bought most of their jewelry for themselves. Furthermore, more than one-third (36%), compared to 26% nationally, consider a piece of jewelry they bought for themselves as their favorite piece they’ve ever owned.

The Atlanta Jewelry Show runs from Aug. 10-12 at the Cobb Galleria in Atlanta.