The jewelry industry in the United States is expected to reach $480.5 billion by 2025 . Extremely competitive and saturated, this market still offers plenty of opportunity for retailers savvy enough to be clear about their niche.

Unfortunately, the niche of "family jeweler," long depended upon by independent jewelry retailers, is a challenging niche to protect today - some would argue it's no longer a niche at all. Your local community members have more retail (Big Boxes and non-jewelry specialty boutiques) and online opportunities to buy jewelry than they did just 20 years ago, and everyone has become comfortable with online buying.

So what's a savvy retail jeweler to do? Focus more than ever on defining and then engaging with your niche.

Most fine jewelers depend on bridal business for a significant part of their revenue. But have you thought about the personality of your bridal brand? Are you more of an heirloom bridal seller, with clients most interested in classic looks that can become part of another significant jewelry collection? Or are you more of a fashion bridal seller, with clients interested in what other engagement ring buyers on Instagram are promoting? Is your bridal customer a 20-something or a late 30-something? You can sell to anyone, obviously, but if all of your merchandise selection, promotion, and targeting are generic, then the only thing you'll end up competing on is price . . . and nobody wants that. 

What about your non-bridal offering? Do you have a really hopping color gemstone jewelry business? A diamond fashion customer? Are you a custom design destination? Do you serve a significant professional female self-purchaser, or is yours more of a booming gift business? How old is your primary customer? Do you serve a lot of singles, or gays, or young families, or older clientele? 

When you think carefully about the answers to these questions, you develop insight on how to merchandise your cases and direct your promotions to the people most interested in your brand. And they will respond - because most of what they see is generic jewelry advertising. As soon as you send messaging that feels that you're speaking directly to them, they're going to respond!