Signet Jewelers’ Q3 Sales Slide Amid Slow Engagement Ring Sales, Tech Issues

Akron, Ohio—Signet Jewelers Ltd. sales slipped in the third quarter as its engagement ring sales remained stalled and digital banners James Allen and Blue Nile struggled with technical issues.

The jewelry giant, which is the parent company of several large jewelry store chains including Zales, Jared, and Kay Jewelers, named a new CEO last month, former PetSmart CEO J .K. Symancyk.

“After a month at Signet, I’m energized by our opportunity to accelerate growth. Our strong brands, deep consumer focus, and talented team provide a powerful foundation to strategically evolve and transform our business,” Symancyk said on his first Signet earnings call Thursday morning.

“I recognize we have some challenges. Engagement incidents are somewhat less predictable on a short-term basis, and, as you know, lab-created diamonds have disrupted the industry, but also create opportunities in the fashion category as well as increase the breadth of assortment within bridal.”

For the quarter ending Nov. 2, Signet’s overall sales totaled $1.35 billion, down 3 percent year-over-year. Same-store sales fell 1 percent.

Both metrics were within its previous Q3 guidance.

In the first nine months of the fiscal year, sales totaled $4.35 billion, down 7 percent year-over-year. Same-store sales fell 5 percent.

Signet continued to see lower-than-expected engagement ring sales, but reiterated its prediction that the number of engagements will rise in the near future following a post-pandemic slump.

Its current guidance for the full fiscal year assumes engagements will increase as much as 5 percent this year.

On the call, Signet Chief Financial, Strategy and Services Officer Joan Hilson said, “Engagement units are recovering, although slower than we expected.”

There was a 2 percent dip in engagement ring sales in the third quarter, but Hilson noted that is still an improvement over recent quarters.

Excluding digital banners James Allen and Blue Nile, unit sales of engagement rings at Signet’s stores in North America were up about 4 percent in Q3, also an improvement.

(Digital banners refer to the brands in Signet’s portfolio that operate mainly or entirely online.)

“As we look forward, we expect that bridal in the fourth quarter will continue to be positive, albeit with the digital banners’ impact.”

The company also noted high single-digit comps over the Black Friday to Cyber Monday period, which will be accounted for in Q4.

The tech issues at James Allen and Blue Nile, continued in Q3, though the company said it has taken steps to resolve them.

“We saw with the timing of re-platforming being completed later in the third quarter, as well as the aided search upgrades that we put into play, they negatively impacted performance,” said Hilson.

Re-platforming the banners means moving their digital infrastructure from one platform to another.

The issues, which impacted traffic and search placement, are expected to have an impact on the fourth quarter as well.

“[The digital banners] have a high penetration of bridal and engagement in their business, therefore it’s impacting our overall engagement performance,” said Hilson.

In an October filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Signet announced that Oded Edelman, who headed its digital banners for the past seven years, would be leaving the company. 

Corinne Bentzen was named as his replacement, effective Nov. 4.   

Hilson also addressed the rising cost of gold and its impact on the company.

“With respect to gold, we see little price resistance on gold. The consumer understands the value and how gold is priced in the market.”

She said in response to rising gold costs, Signet is able to adjust pricing or “value engineer” products to keep them within a certain price point.

Gold was $2,671/ounce as of press time.

Hilson also noted that its fashion jewelry offerings are doing well.

“Our fashion assortment is providing us the ability to manage our way through what may be a bit of a choppy environment related to bridal ATV (average transaction value).”

Signet’s services category also continued to perform well, up 2 percent, and outpace merchandise.

In North America, Signet’s banners include Zales, Jared, and Kay Jewelers, as well as Peoples in Canada.

Signet’s third-quarter sales in the region totaled $1.3 billion, down 2 percent year-over-year due to a total ATV that was flat year-over-year on a lower number of transactions.

Same-store sales in the region were down 1 percent.

It’s been a busy year for Signet’s North American banners.

Kay Jewelers underwent a rebrand, while Zales celebrates its 100th anniversary, and Rocksbox opened a pop-up shop in San Francisco.

Signet announced a partnership with De Beers back in May, joining forces to promote natural diamonds. The campaign, “Worth the Wait,” debuted in October.

Internationally, Signet’s banners include Ernest Jones and H. Samuel.

International quarterly sales totaled $83.3 million, down 12 percent year-over-year (16 percent on a constant currency basis), due to a 13 percent decrease in ATV driven by the sale of some of its watch locations to Watches of Switzerland as well as a lower number of transactions.

International same-store sales were up 2 percent in the quarter.

Hilson, whose role expanded following Gina Drosos’ retirement, shared insights on the quarter and the year ahead.

Signet lowered the high end of its guidance for the full fiscal year while raising the low end. 

The company now expects fiscal 2025 sales of $6.74 billion to $6.81 billion, compared with its prior guidance of $6.66 billion to $7.02 billion.

Regarding the change in guidance, Hilson pointed to an expected small decline in sales at its core banners in Q4 and noted a slight impact related to hurricane season but said the tech issues that are impacting its digital banners are the main driver.

The company is also factoring in a leadership transition cost of $7 million.

Same-store sales guidance was also adjusted. Signet now expects a decrease of 2 to 3 percent, compared with its prior guidance of down 5 percent to up 1 percent.

In the fourth quarter, which includes the winter holidays, the company expects sales between $2.38 billion and $2.46 billion, with same-store sales between flat and a 3 percent increase.

“As we look forward into next fiscal year, I believe there are opportunities to evolve our strategy to further fuel customer and shareholder value. I look forward to sharing more details on this work and our plans in the coming months,” Symancyk said in the company’s Q3 earnings press release.