Valentine’s Day – the busiest time of year for men buying jewellery. Pity the wives and girlfriends. It’s a painful time to be a jewellery retailer, watching so many men buy jewellery that will only be worn once. Because outside the expensive gold and diamonds, men simply cannot buy jewellery that women want to wear.

Years ago, when we sold retail, the week leading up to Valentine’s Day was when we got rid of our dullest, most boring women’s watches and necklaces – the drab grey stuff that women simply refused to buy for themselves at any time of the year. Men arrived in their droves to buy these items. No doubt there was many a fake smile on Valentine’s morning, with promises of ‘saving it for a special occasion‘, because it was ‘too good to wear every day‘. Translation: she hates it but doesn’t want to say so.

That same male inability to buy women’s jewellery extends to retailers sourcing jewellery from wholesalers. We can spot male buyers by the contents of their shopping baskets. It’s not that they buy greys and blacks (women jewellers buy a lot of these too), it’s the absence of any strong colours. Our male buyers rarely buy pink, orange, or blue jewellery. Their courage runs out after one or two red items.

So let me say this simply: Women like and want colourful jewellery. It’s what they buy when they have a choice; it’s what they love to wear; it’s what their friends are wearing. They want orange rings, bright blue necklaces, and pink everything.

A word of advice to our conservative male customers: Unless you’re selling exclusively to men, you need to be buying bright colours.