CMJ bucks general retail downturn with 6.5% pre-Christmas growth

January 17, 2025

The Company of Master Jewellers (CMJ) has reported strong sales figures for the “golden quarter” from September to December 2024, indicating buyer confidence amongst its retailer members ahead of Christmas.

Group sales figures compared to the same quarter of the previous year were up by 6.5%.

Even more positively, the group’s sales figures to date in January 2025 attest that stock has sold through after a strong Christmas overall for retailer members.

The CMJ surveyed its retailer members after Christmas and 71% of respondents replied that their sales were up over the Christmas trading period compared to the same period in 2023.

The golden quarter was kickstarted at the CMJ’s Autumn Trade Event, where the group introduced its CMJ Pay initiative. This sees full, share-holding retail members receive an allocation of credit based on their turnover through the group, which is only available to spend with approved suppliers at the show.

This boosted retailers’ ability to buy with confidence in September, enabling them to have more in-stock items to meet consumer demand in the months leading up to Christmas.

Emmet Cummins, Managing Director of the Company of Master Jewellers, said: “Our fundamental aim as a group is to protect the position of independent retail jewellers on the high street. We introduced CMJ Pay as a way to support our members to be able to buy with confidence ahead of the key festive period – and this initiative clearly worked, which is why we will once again be providing CMJ Pay to our retailers at our next Trade Event.

“We have also been delighted to see the sell through figures since December as our members re-order. Along with positive reports of how Christmas fared for many of our retailers, we are going into 2025 with confidence that our members are in a strong position. Of course, there are some retailers amongst our membership who did not have such a good Christmas, and we plan to share ideas and learnings with the wider membership to support those businesses that found it more challenging.