I think what it means and something we have know for a while…is that as the UK’s leading online jewellers we do sell a lot of our engagement rings to customers with limited access to a range and choice of retail jewellery outlets…this is reflected by the counties at both ends of the spending charts.
We also took the statistics from a 12 month period and did average spend rather than amount of engagement rings sold as obviously the results would be easy to predict…
The one I am surprised at….is that people in London as a rule, buy more Platinum and people in Manchester, as a rule buy more white gold….is that just a quirk of these statistics or is that something that can be backed up by other retailers with shops in both locations?
Gary Ingram
Website Design By Sugarfree Design
wow ….what an intresting stats ….
Comment by TechFlashed — September 15, 2011 @ 9:08 am
An engagement ring by tradition is supposed to be purchased at app one third of a gentlemans wage; therefore as the wages in London are more than likely to be higher than in say Kingston upon Hull, it stands to reason that a third of a wage in London is greater than a third of the wage in Hull. Not every woman prefers white metal as I do myself. I cannot abide cheap looking 9ct yellow gold; however, I respect that that may be all the average person can afford and shoulde not be discriminated against just because of where they live. Meanness has nothing to do with the issue.
Comment by kim lomas — September 20, 2011 @ 9:07 am
Hi Kim,
You’re quite right, I was being provocative in my newsletter to try and spark debate.
Also, as ever statistics are just that….for example…we sell a huge amount of engagement rings, of all kinds and for all budgets, to people in London and the other principle cities…Manchester, Leeds, Birmingham etc…but because we sell so many they appear as averages rather than extremes and therefore don’t show in this list.
It really does come down to making sure that you spend what you’re comfortable with….we have always found that the thought, emotion and desire to buy the ring is ultimately more important than the size of the ring once it has been given.
Still good fun though to compare counties!
Comment by Gary Ingram — September 21, 2011 @ 12:32 pm