Brilliant Earth’s Fine Jewelry a Hit in Q2

San Francisco—Brilliant Earth posted double-digit growth in the second quarter, highlighting the strong performance of its fine jewelry category.

The sales growth comes as the jewelry company continues its retail expansion across North America.

Here are five important takeaways from its most recent results.

Brilliant Earth’s Q2 sales were up 18 percent.

Net sales were $108.8 million, an 18 percent increase year-over-year compared with $92.3 million in the second quarter of last year.

Sales were up 31 percent compared with the second quarter of 2019, said Chief Financial Officer Jeff Kuo.

Total orders were up 25 percent year-over-year.

“We delivered a strong second quarter, reflecting the increasing awareness and resonance of the Brilliant Earth brand, the disciplined execution of our omnichannel growth strategy, and the advantages of our asset-light, agile, and data-driven business model,” said CEO Beth Gerstein.

Net income was $3.8 million, a 56 percent decrease compared with $8.5 million in the previous second quarter.

Brilliant Earth did not respond to a request for comment on the decline but noted during its earnings call it’s been increasing investments in its retail footprint and marketing, adding that employee costs have also increased.

The company noted its TikTok efforts have been especially successful, with 13 percent of customers surveyed stating that’s where they learned about the brand.

Brilliant Earth is expanding its fine jewelry offerings, and it’s paying off.

The company is best known for its bridal offerings, but it’s recently started to offer trend-driven fine jewelry collections, and the reception has been positive.

“We continue to see outsized performance within our fine jewelry assortment with growth that far outpaces the business as a whole,” said Kuo on an earnings call Thursday.

Fine jewelry did especially well over Mother’s Day, noted Gerstein on the call, with sales up nearly 4 percent year-over-year.

Wedding band sales were also particularly strong, noted Quo, thanks to the “year of the wedding.” The Knot has predicted 2.6 million American weddings will be celebrated in 2022.

“Both men’s and women’s wedding bands have grown faster than our overall business year-to-date, led by the strength of our product assortment and a record number of weddings that have driven demand,” said Gerstein.

However, strong sales in fine jewelry and wedding bands, which have a lower average price point than its bridal offerings, had a negative impact on the company’s average order value, said Kuo; it was down by a mid-single-digit percentage.

The company also launched a men’s jewelry line this June, just ahead of Father’s Day, and introduced thousands of new natural and lab-grown colored diamonds, as well as a wider assortment of colors, shapes, and price points.

Meanwhile, its personalized jewelry, like its zodiac collection, and its Fairmined gold jewelry has done especially well, said Gerstein.

Brilliant Earth is collaborating with popular designers for new collections.

In an effort to expand its jewelry offerings, Brilliant Earth has also inked collaboration deals with several notable partners this year.

The company kicked off the “year of the wedding” with a new collection, collaborating with Tacori for the second time in January.

The bridal collection featured six engagement rings and four wedding bands.

In May, the company teamed up with jewelry designer Jade Trau on an 11-piece capsule collection.

Previously, Brilliant Earth has collaborated with Moyo Gems, Alrosa, and CanadaMark.

Its retail footprint is growing quickly.

Brilliant Earth started out as an e-tailer, but the digital native has been gradually growing its brick-and-mortar retail footprint.

It’s picked up the pace this year, opening a total of seven showrooms so far.

The company currently operates 22 showrooms, with its most recent opening in St. Louis, marking its first location in Missouri.

Its other locations include New York, Los Angeles, Houston, Boston, and Chicago.

“We see tremendous opportunity for our business to grow and for our brand to lead in the highly fragmented jewelry industry,” said Kuo.

The company has asserted the importance of an omnichannel retail experience.

In an interview with Fox Business after going public, CEO Beth Gerstein spoke on the importance of having both options.

“Jewelry is a really considered purchase. Customers just really like to have a more one-on-one interaction. Knowing that there’s a showroom nearby just helps unlock that conversion and is reassuring to the customer,” she said.

Brilliant Earth maintained its full-year guidance and an optimistic outlook.

Brilliant Earth reiterated its guidance for the full year.

The company forecasted sales in the range of $450 million to $470 million, down from prior guidance of $485 million to $500 million.

It lowered its guidance in the first quarter, noting the impact of the current geopolitical and economic environment as well as more moderate sales growth despite strong demand.

However, Gerstein remained optimistic about the year ahead.

“There’s some fluctuation, but for the most part, [demand] has been consistent for us. Demand continues to be strong, so we’re excited to capitalize on the resonance we have with our customer base.”