The Q2 2023 benchmarking report for UK jewellery and watch brands has just been published. Learn how the top 12 UK jewellery and watch brands perform across the digital space.

The latest Q2 2023 benchmarking report for UK jewellery and watch brands has just been published.  It covers the largest 12 national jewellery and watch brands, including Watches of Switzerland, Fraser Hart, T H Baker, Ernest Jones, Beaverbrooks, H Samuel, Bucherer, Berry’s, Goldsmiths, F Hinds, Boodles and Warren James.

The research gives an inside track on who is winning the biggest share of voice online, and quantifies the gaps, risks and missed opportunities for other jewellery and watch brands to win brand exposure, drive online views, and generate purchases. The report highlights quick wins that will improve enquiries from your online strategy and identifies the barriers that may be reducing your site’s ability to optimise digital performance.

To see a preview and contents page of the Q2 report, click here. To get a copy of the full report and the key takeaways, please complete the enquiry form or schedule a call.

What The Industry Research Report Covers

The 70+ pages of research benchmarks each retailer based on 50+ metrics and indicators of successful digital strategy, including organic visibility, domain authority, paid media ads, conversion performance, technical performance, site speed, universal search, content, social ads, accessibility, and mobile performance.  

Driving Optimal ROAS from Paid Media Channels

Some of the leading players in the space are high spenders on paid media channels such as Google, Bing & Facebook - but have a poor or sub-optimal conversion improvement strategy. Without an optimised, sophisticated conversion strategy that maximises the conversion rate, the return on investment is unsustainable or will underperform. Scaling spend on paid media is not achievable unless the conversion rate delivers optimal performance in the sector. Some in the space have paid media spend levels from 30k+ per month but dedicate minimal resources and budgets to conversion testing.  Given the cost per clicks on ad networks will continue to rise, we recommend spending at least 10% of your paid media budget on ongoing conversion optimisation testing schedules to ensure your paid media ROI maintains long-term viability, competitive advantage, and sustainability.

Technical Website Compliance

Savvy digital marketers know that having a technically sound website is an essential component of a successful fully integrated digital strategy - plus a site capable of maximising conversion performance. E-commerce websites managing large volumes of ever-changing stock are often at risk to high volumes of 4xx errors, so jewellery and watch brands will need to ensure they maintain a firm process of adding redirects and removing dead links when stock is taken down.

In our last report, we note that Ernest Jones were seeing the worst levels of 4xx errors, returning 636 in our crawls. Though Ernest Jones have increased this amount to 770 4xx results, two brands are now underperforming further. The highest volume of errors is now being seen by T H Baker, with 1,021. T H Baker must be sure that no key pages are being blocked by dead ends, and that customers are being directed to alternate pieces when products are out of stock.

Site Speed & Conversion Rate Performance

When 62% of consumers are less likely to convert if they have a negative mobile site experience, ensuring that your site is quick and easy to load makes a significant improvement on your overall conversion rates. Jewellery and watch brands will want to ensure users are getting a luxury experience at every touchpoint, something a quick, well-performing site will convey.

Most jewellery and watch brands are securing similar scores, with eleven brands ranging between 37 and 25. Just as in our last report, Fraser Hart are lagging behind their competitors, securing a score of only 2. Though we are seeing falls in mobile page speed scores across all sectors we specialise in, this remains a useful comparison metric between competitors. Fraser Hart must ensure their site is fast and provided an excellent user experience.

Building Competitive Advantage with Domain Authority

Domain authority is an essential metric for measuring the effectiveness of SEO performance, and helps create a reliable overall gauge of how effective your site is at achieving organic traffic, i.e. ‘free’ traffic that isn’t gained through sponsored ads. Jewellery and watch brands can engage with a digital PR specialist to identify link building opportunities among fashion, lifestyle, and luxury bloggers and publications.

A ‘good’ DA really comes down to how your competitors are performing, however it’s generally considered average between 40 and 50, good between 50 and 60, and excellent above 60. DAs remained at similar levels to our Q1 report, with scores ranging from 67 (from Bucherer) to 41 (for Fraser Hart). 

Organic Performance – Mobile & Desktop

A strong organic performance is strategically important as it ensures your site ranks above competitors for key, transactional keywords. When 93% of your customers won’t go past the first page of Google, your absence or lack of targeting for essential keywords will cost you conversions. Jewellery and watch brands are likely seeing the impact of changing consumer habits, as we're finding fewer consumers are indulging in treats or expendable items.

In our last report, only three brands had gained organic mobile traffic year on year. In Q2, only Boodles saw any form of increase in mobile traffic, with a 26% uplift in traffic compared to 2022. In this quarter, Ernest Jones unfortunately saw the biggest drop in traffic, losing 70% of organic mobile visits year on year.

Universal Search Opportunity

Google Universal Search Results is an evolving opportunity to make your pages visible on a SERP (Search Engine Results Page). Universal results often appear before traditional listings and are eye-catching for users. Universal search results refer to rankings on a SERP that are not the traditional ‘blue line’ Google link, and a retailer can appear for universal search results without being strong in standard rankings. 'Image pack' and 'reviews' results are great options for jewellery and watch brands, who can showcase their products and generate consumer trust directly from the SERP.

'Reviews' remained the highest used Universal Search feature in terms of volume, with T H Baker retaining their top position from Q1 with 25,400 results. 'People also ask' results were the most widely used, with appearances from all twelve jewellery and watch brands.

The Longtail Keyword Opportunity

Longtail keywords are often considered high intent and potentially more likely to convert as a searcher is being more specific. Optimising for longtail keywords also puts your content strategy in a strong position to rank for retailer new search terms as they enter Google’s index. Jewellery and watch brands will want to ensure they are ranking well for high-purchase intent phrases, which may include details of watch or ring size, colour, gems, or price.

Bucherer are ranking for very few longtail keywords, securing only 62 top-three positions. With Bucherer only ranking for a total of 356 longtail keywords overall, they will need to not only optimise for their existing keyword results, but identify further phrases that could prove profitable. 'People also ask' questions can be a great indicator of potential longtail keywords to include in an organic strategy.

Facebook Adverts

With the number of Facebook users in the United Kingdom (UK) forecast to hit over 42 million users by 2022, it is not surprising that companies have jumped at the opportunity to advertise on the social media platform. Facebook’s UK digital advertising revenue has been estimated to have breached 2.6b GB pounds in 2019.

Below, we can see examples of Boodles' Facebook ads. Boodles' creative is elegant and unique when compared with competitors, and the use of the same copy with different formats enables Boodles to effectively assess performance of each visual style - learnings they can apply to future campaigns.

Top Social Shares & Content

When it comes to social media and on-site content strategies, it is important to release content that has a longer shelf life. An article is considered 'Evergreen' if it has maintained its relevancy to an audience for longer. It's great for your retailer engagement, but great for Google too, who will recognise content which achieves traffic over a long period of time. Jewellery brands can turn to beautiful product images as an easy way to create shareable content, but can also consider infographics or information about ring sizes, types of gem settings, or watch features, among any other piece of information users might want to know about jewellery and watches!

Meta is the preferred platform for all but one jewellery and watch brand. T H Baker is the only brand looking primarily towards Pinterest for social media sharing, a smart move due to Pinterest's comparatively affluent user base and shoppability features.

Website Readability & Accessibility

20% of people in the UK have a disability – 2 million of which are people living with sight loss. In addition, 1 in 12 men and 1 in 200 women have some degree of colour vision deficiency. When websites are not designed to meet these needs, retailers lose customer interest as they turn elsewhere. Jewellery and watch brands will want to ensure all visitors get a luxury experience with their brand, regardless of ability.

In our last report, we noted that F Hinds were still the most-struggling with accessibility, with 515 alerts present within our audit. While F Hinds have made a slight improvement here, reducing to 507 alerts, Ernest Jones are now delivering the most alerts of all jewellery brands, with 589. 

Q2 2023 WINNERS LEADERBOARD

For a glance into just 6 of the metrics we evaluated these top 12 jewellery and watch brands on, check out our quick-look table below;

GET THE FULL 79-PAGE Q2 2023 REPORT

To get a copy of the full report, please complete the enquiry form. If you want to talk to us about accelerating your digital performance, please call us on 01543 410014 or schedule a call with Mike Movassaghi.

Photo by Eve Maier on Unsplash