Swiss Watch Export Sales Grow 14% in June
PARIS — Swiss watch exports continued their positive trend in June, following on from May, posting 14 percent sales growth year-over-year. Business was bolstered by all materials and price segments.
This was despite a tougher comparison in China and contributed to a strong first-half result for Swiss timepieces sold abroad, which reached sales of 13.3 billion Swiss francs, or 15.52 billion euros, up 11.8 percent versus the same prior-year period.
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All watch materials registered an increase in June, with those in precious metals making the biggest contribution in value, at 858.1 million francs, a 14 percent uptick. Second were gold-steel watches, with a sales increase of 18 percent to 372.1 million francs, despite a 38.8 percent decline in units sold.
Total volumes came in at 1.6 million units, strengthened by the “other materials” category, whose unit count was up 50.8 percent to 485,900 watches.
All timepiece price segments had growth, both in value and volume terms. The 200- to 500-franc price category was particularly robust, increasing sales by 18.7 percent and showing its gradual recovery during the first half.
“As travel is expected to continue increasing over the summer holidays, there has been a trend of trading up at the lower end of the Swiss watch industry, from below 200 Swiss francs to 200 to 500 Swiss francs. This may be due to the fact that both Swatch Group and Richemont confirmed Chinese tourists tend to spend more on higher-priced items while traveling,” wrote Luca Solca, senior research analyst, global luxury goods at Bernstein, in a note.
Sales growth of Swiss watches to the U.S. slowed slightly to 8.8 percent, and those in mainland China grew almost apace, at 9 percent. In Hong Kong, meanwhile, sales rose 46.2 percent and returned in first-half 2023 to a level close to that seen in 2017.
In the Far East, sales in Singapore and Japan were slightly under the global average, registering growth of 12.7 percent and 10.1 percent, respectively.
Swiss timepiece sales in Europe were up 12.6 percent, but were contrasted on a country-by-country basis. At 5.6 percent, sales gains in the U.K. were smaller than in other main markets on continental Europe, such as France with a 13.9 percent increase, Italy with 32.4 percent and Germany with 17.4 percent.
Continuing to post sales declines in June were Spain, down 6.9 percent, and the Netherlands, declining 6.7 percent.
“In terms of regional performance, we saw considerable increase in tourist destinations, including Hong Kong, France, Italy and Germany,” Solca wrote.
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