In recent years, with the impact of the epidemic and the cooling of the real estate market, consumers' awareness of investing in jewelry and jade has generally increased, and many investors have begun to rethink their investment directions. In traditional Chinese culture, jewelry and jade have always been important sources of family wealth. Jewelry and jade that are small, precious, have strong value retention and great potential for appreciation are investment consumer goods for the wealthy class, but are now once again favored by the middle-class consumer market.

However, consumers do not treat all jewelry and jade products equally, and there is a distinction between fashion jewelry and precious jewelry. Fashion jewelry refers to jewelry made of crystal, quartz, etc., which is light on materials and heavy on concepts and endorsed by the reputation of fashion designers, while precious jewelry refers to jewelry made of diamonds, gold, jadeite, Hetian jade, etc., which is heavy on materials and light on concepts and is "genuine and authentic". In consumers' minds, jewelry and jade generally refer to precious jewelry that is of great value and relatively easy to cash out.

According to fashion jewelry brand PANDORA, revenue and net profit have been falling since 2009. Swarovski's core crystal industry may see a 33% drop in sales in 2020. In contrast, Chow Tai Seng, which mainly sells mid-to-high-end luxury jewelry, achieved year-on-year growth in revenue and net profit attributable to shareholders of 11.69% and 22.99% in 2019, respectively.

When domestic consumers are no longer satisfied with consuming fashionable jewelry with designs that easily become outdated and have low cost-effectiveness, they will turn to precious jewelry that is more likely to maintain and appreciate in value.

High net worth individuals are paying more and more attention to jade jewelry

The deep integration of jewelry, artworks, commerce and finance has promoted the prosperity of the jewelry market, led to a rise in jewelry prices and stimulated people's enthusiasm for jewelry investment. Investing in jade jewelry has become an important way for high net worth individuals and their families to protect and increase their wealth.

According to data, 59% of high net worth individuals worldwide have invested in art, accounting for an average of 9.6% of their family's total assets. In the Chinese market, a report shows that 54% of domestic high-net-worth individuals have participated in or paid attention to art collection or investment in the past three years, among which jewelry and jade have become the focus of attention of the domestic high-net-worth group.

In 2020, although the overall performance of the jewelry market was weak due to the impact of the new crown epidemic, the demand for high-end jewelry remained very strong. After a brief decline, sales of high-end jewelry began to rebound rapidly in the summer. A survey of high net worth individuals showed that 74% of respondents planned to spend the same or more on luxury goods such as jewelry, watches, fashion, cars, etc. compared to before the outbreak of the new crown epidemic.

In the future, Chinese consumers' diversified demands in the investment field will continue to become more prominent. High-quality jade jewelry is scarce and non-renewable, which ensures its strong appreciation potential. The gradual revival and "breaking the circle" of traditional Chinese jade culture has also endowed jade jewelry investment with very important cultural connotations.

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