Retail jewelry sales in March of 2022 grew 11.9% compared to March 2021, according to statistics released by Mastercard SpendingPulse™.

The numbers are even more impressive when comparing last month's jewelry sales to pre-pandemic levels. March 2022 jewelry sales were a whopping 78.8% higher than the tallies recorded in March of 2019.

The jewelry sector has been riding a wave of great sales data that started in the summer of 2021. That's when Mastercard singled out “jewelry” as the fastest growing retail sector, with July 2021 sales jumping a whopping 54.2% compared to pre-pandemic July 2019 levels.

Then, in December, the Mastercard report emphasized how "smaller boxes had a big impact" during the holiday season, as jewelry sales soared 32% during the period that spanned November 1 through December 24.

The most recent Mastercard report emphasized how consumers' increased mobility has directly impacted their shopping habits. In-store sales, for instance, jumped 11.2% in March 2022 vs March 2021.

Other signs that consumers are getting back to their routines was the strong year-over-year performance of the airline industry (+44.8% in March), restaurants (+19.1%) and lodging (+16.0%).

Hawaii was the state with the strongest sales growth in March (up 12.2%) as more honeymooners and tourists chose that destination, according to the survey. March's other top-performing states were Wyoming (+12.2%), Colorado (+11.0%), Florida (+9.7%) and Texas (+9.1%).

“Retail sales remain strong but are stabilizing as consumers resume spending on passion areas like travel, live entertainment, indoor dining and other in-person activities,” said Steve Sadove, senior advisor for Mastercard and former CEO and Chairman of Saks Incorporated. “After nearly two years of cautious optimism around the broader reopening, it’s a healthy sign that consumers are returning to a balanced level of spending across retail sectors and services.”

Mastercard SpendingPulse™ reports on US retail sales across all payment types. The findings are based on aggregate sales activity in the Mastercard payments network, coupled with survey-based estimates for certain other payment forms, such as cash and check.

Credits: Shopper image by Bigstockphoto.com. Mastercard SpendingPulse, U.S. Snapshot - March 2022 table courtesy of Business Wire.