Single professional women: a promising market category.(The Marketplace)

Surprising as it may sound, marketing jewelry to single professional women has not been fully developed, according to newly released surveys. The aim for jewelry retailers and marketers should be to persuade these women that jewelry is as much an appropriate purchase as an expensive purse or pair of jeans. Although many jewelers are taking steps to expand sales to this sector, the trade still has a long way to go in reaching this market niche.

Much of traditional diamond jewelry marketing is concerned with how to convince men to buy diamond engagement rings and other items for the women in their lives. While this remains a staple of the diamond jewelry business, the rising numbers of successful single professional women with the income and desire to spend money on themselves constitute an increasingly irresistible market niche in their own right.

Frank About Women, a Winston Salem, N.C.-based marketing consultancy firm, found in a 2005 survey that "25 percent of single professional women will buy a gift for themselves in the $1,000 to $5,000 range," said Jenny Ison, a strategic planner. Retail jewelers should note that single women are increasingly willing to spend this kind of money on themselves, whereas "married women feel guilty about shopping for themselves and feel they should be buying for their children or family unit."

While the survey did not ask about age, Ison said the participants were primarily in the under-35 category coveted by marketers. This demographic segment "is definitely more interested in the fashion side of jewelry," said Virginia Halevi, editor-in-chief of Jewelry.com, a popular website for jewelry and information on jewelry. Fashion jewelry "says this is me," expressing the woman's individuality, as opposed to more traditional bridal jewelry, she …