According to Research and Markets' latest jewellery retailing report, the global jewellery and watch market has been recovering in 2010, after shrinking during the recession, and is poised for further expansion due to growth in the luxury segment and the Asia Pacific region.

Gold jewellery on display in a store in Hong Kong

In 2009 the global jewellery retailing market contracted by 0.6% as consumers scaled back discretionary purchases. The outlook is more positive, especially for the luxury segment which is set to increase in value by over 8% in 2010, compared with over 3% for the mass market.

Asia-Pacific (excluding Japan) has overtaken the Americas as the leading region for jewellery and watch retailing. The importance of developing operations in fast growth markets is well recognised by leading companies and those that built presence in Asia-Pacific have performed far better that those that did not.

Richemont, the global jewelry and watch market leader, now achieves a third of its sales from Asia Pacific excluding Japan, up from a fifth five years ago. Its operating margin only dropped slightly during the recession thanks in part to continuing strong sales of Cartier in Greater China where it now has almost 400 stores.