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Press and PR enquiries about the Cheap Engagement Rings Guide
If you are a journalist researching a news story, blog or article on engagement rings or wedding rings, and you would like a quote or advice, please feel free to get in touch via press (at) cheap-engagement-rings.co.uk
For general information, you may like to start by reading our guide to 10 things you need to know when looking for a cheap engagement ring
For general information, you may like to start by reading our guide to 10 things you need to know when looking for a cheap engagement ring
Archive of press releases
Press Release
Immediate release
April 21st 2016
Immediate release
April 21st 2016
Romance isn’t dead! More British men than ever searching for engagement rings
Global interest on the decline, whilst British interest doubles in a decade
Global interest on the decline, whilst British interest doubles in a decade
A new study of Google search data suggests British men’s interest in getting engaged has increased significantly over the last decade – despite global interest declining.
The data shows a doubling in British interest in engagement rings online over the last 10 years, with the highest ever figure being recorded in December 2015. In contrast, worldwide interest in engagement rings peaked in late 2004 and dropped by about a quarter over the last decade (*see notes to editors).
The data – compiled by Cheap-Engagement-Rings.co.uk - shows that UK interest in the term ‘engagement rings’ reached an all-time peak of 2.4 million searches during 2015, including 246,000 in December (December is typically the busiest month for engagement ring sales). Related terms such as 'diamond engagement rings' and 'wedding rings' followed a similar pattern.
Surprisingly, searches for engagement rings in the UK started to rise considerably in 2009 at the peak of the global recession, despite the average engagement ring costing more than £1000 and the average UK wedding costing about £20,000.**
One theory is that British shoppers became more frugal during the recession, as searches for the term ‘cheap engagement rings’ have also increased significantly since 2009. Previous studies around the comeback of marriage in the UK since 2010 have suggested inward migration may be behind the rise, although it is worth noting that the search data only relates to English-language searches, so this may not be as significant a factor as previously thought.
Robert Lane from Cheap-Engagement-Rings.co.uk said:
“You might assume that the rise in unemployment and drop in disposable income that we saw after the financial crash would lead to more couples choosing to hold off getting engaged to avoid the cost of getting married. In fact, we saw the opposite with a steady increase which seemed to start at the height of the recession and continues today.”
“It’s hard to know why Brits appear to be increasingly interested in popping the question, whilst other nations are on the decline. I’d like to think we are more romantic or that the recession made us focus on love and family, but that may be wishful thinking! What we can see though is that more men are looking to get engaged on the cheap and aren’t buying into the old ‘traditions’ that you need to spend a month’s salary on a diamond ring. That may be a result of the economic downturn and people becoming much more frugal shoppers.”
Cheap-Engagement-Rings.co.uk is an independent guide for clueless men which aims to debunk some of the myths around engagement rings and diamonds. For more advice visit www.cheap-engagement-rings.co.uk
Notes to editors
For more information, please contact [email protected]
*Methodology: Data on number of searches was gathered by using Google Trends data from 2004 – 2016 and Google Keyword Planner data, using the term ‘engagement rings’. Google Trends normalizes data to allow for overall growth in use of the web and other factors so that you can see popularity of a term relative to other terms and different time frames. This means that you cannot see absolute search numbers over a decade, but gives a more accurate picture of popularity and interest in a topic. Google Trends data represents the all-time peak of 'engagement rings' in the UK with a score of ‘100’ in December 2015, with other months given a score relative to the peak. Keyword planner shows 2,391,120 searches during 2015 with a peak of 246,000 in December 2015. For 2015, the average in the UK was 81 (percent compared to the peak month), whilst in 2005 it was 41.8 - meaning that interest in the term has more than doubled. Globally, the average level of interest during 2005 was 81.75, compared to 64.3 in 2015, a drop of approximately one quarter from the peak over the decade.
**Figures vary around the ‘average’ cost of an engagement ring, seemingly because of the different definitions of ‘average’. However, a 2011 study by LV found that the average was £1231. Similarly, estimates around the average cost of a wedding vary, but recent estimates put the figure around £21000 - £24000.
Google Trends data shows an increase in UK search data for terms including: “engagement rings” “cheap engagement rings” “diamond engagement rings” and “wedding rings”. Conversely, worldwide data for those terms all dropped over the last decade.
The data does not specify the gender of the person searching for engagement rings, although a recent poll revealed that “in just 5% of American couples, the woman had asked the man to marry her” (Metro, 2016).
The data shows a doubling in British interest in engagement rings online over the last 10 years, with the highest ever figure being recorded in December 2015. In contrast, worldwide interest in engagement rings peaked in late 2004 and dropped by about a quarter over the last decade (*see notes to editors).
The data – compiled by Cheap-Engagement-Rings.co.uk - shows that UK interest in the term ‘engagement rings’ reached an all-time peak of 2.4 million searches during 2015, including 246,000 in December (December is typically the busiest month for engagement ring sales). Related terms such as 'diamond engagement rings' and 'wedding rings' followed a similar pattern.
Surprisingly, searches for engagement rings in the UK started to rise considerably in 2009 at the peak of the global recession, despite the average engagement ring costing more than £1000 and the average UK wedding costing about £20,000.**
One theory is that British shoppers became more frugal during the recession, as searches for the term ‘cheap engagement rings’ have also increased significantly since 2009. Previous studies around the comeback of marriage in the UK since 2010 have suggested inward migration may be behind the rise, although it is worth noting that the search data only relates to English-language searches, so this may not be as significant a factor as previously thought.
Robert Lane from Cheap-Engagement-Rings.co.uk said:
“You might assume that the rise in unemployment and drop in disposable income that we saw after the financial crash would lead to more couples choosing to hold off getting engaged to avoid the cost of getting married. In fact, we saw the opposite with a steady increase which seemed to start at the height of the recession and continues today.”
“It’s hard to know why Brits appear to be increasingly interested in popping the question, whilst other nations are on the decline. I’d like to think we are more romantic or that the recession made us focus on love and family, but that may be wishful thinking! What we can see though is that more men are looking to get engaged on the cheap and aren’t buying into the old ‘traditions’ that you need to spend a month’s salary on a diamond ring. That may be a result of the economic downturn and people becoming much more frugal shoppers.”
Cheap-Engagement-Rings.co.uk is an independent guide for clueless men which aims to debunk some of the myths around engagement rings and diamonds. For more advice visit www.cheap-engagement-rings.co.uk
Notes to editors
For more information, please contact [email protected]
*Methodology: Data on number of searches was gathered by using Google Trends data from 2004 – 2016 and Google Keyword Planner data, using the term ‘engagement rings’. Google Trends normalizes data to allow for overall growth in use of the web and other factors so that you can see popularity of a term relative to other terms and different time frames. This means that you cannot see absolute search numbers over a decade, but gives a more accurate picture of popularity and interest in a topic. Google Trends data represents the all-time peak of 'engagement rings' in the UK with a score of ‘100’ in December 2015, with other months given a score relative to the peak. Keyword planner shows 2,391,120 searches during 2015 with a peak of 246,000 in December 2015. For 2015, the average in the UK was 81 (percent compared to the peak month), whilst in 2005 it was 41.8 - meaning that interest in the term has more than doubled. Globally, the average level of interest during 2005 was 81.75, compared to 64.3 in 2015, a drop of approximately one quarter from the peak over the decade.
**Figures vary around the ‘average’ cost of an engagement ring, seemingly because of the different definitions of ‘average’. However, a 2011 study by LV found that the average was £1231. Similarly, estimates around the average cost of a wedding vary, but recent estimates put the figure around £21000 - £24000.
Google Trends data shows an increase in UK search data for terms including: “engagement rings” “cheap engagement rings” “diamond engagement rings” and “wedding rings”. Conversely, worldwide data for those terms all dropped over the last decade.
The data does not specify the gender of the person searching for engagement rings, although a recent poll revealed that “in just 5% of American couples, the woman had asked the man to marry her” (Metro, 2016).
UK searches for the term 'engagement rings' (Google Trends) - see methodology above for explanation
UK searches for the term 'engagement rings' (Google Trends) - see methodology above for explanation
Press Release
Immediate Release
March 24th 2016
Contact: [email protected]
Brides and grooms paying 800% mark-up for wedding rings
Brides and grooms are buying gold wedding rings at a mark-up of more than 800%, according to a new study. The comparison, by a jewellery advice guide, looked at plain wedding band prices from online retailers and found huge variations.
In one case, an 18 carat gold ring with a material value of £88.40 was being sold for £830, which is a mark-up of 841%.*
By contrast, another major online retailer was selling a near identical gold ring for £231, which works out as a 143% mark-up. **
The higher price is the equivalent of selling gold at £263 per gram, more than nine times its current price of about £28 per gram. Whilst gold remains an expensive metal, its value has fallen significantly over the last five years from its peak of nearly £38 per gram in September 2011.
The study was carried out by The Cheap Engagement Rings Guide, which aims to debunk some of the myths and misunderstandings about buying wedding and engagement rings.
Robert Lane from The Cheap Engagement Rings Guide said:
“Of course jewellers need to add a decent mark-up for the work that goes into making a wedding band, but it’s stunning to see how much of a variation there is in pricing for near-identical products. With a luxury item like a diamond engagement ring or a designer handbag you can certainly claim that you are paying more for greater quality or for an intricate design, but it is harder to justify when you are talking about plain gold wedding bands.”
“There’s no difference between the quality of gold bought from a trendy designer store compared to an independent jeweller or a web-only retailer. If brands are important to you then fair enough, but I’m sure many couples would rather save that money for a honeymoon or to pay for a few extra guests at the wedding.”
The Cheap Engagement Rings Guide has five tips for cutting the cost of wedding rings:
Examples of the cheapest and most expensive rings, by gram of gold:
For more advice visit www.cheap-engagement-rings.co.uk
Notes to editors:
Explanation of calculations:
18 carat yellow gold wedding bands are 75% gold and 25% other metals. This is calculated by weight rather than volume, meaning that an 18 carat gold ring weighing 4 grams would be 3 grams gold and 1 gram other materials. These other materials are typically silver and copper but it does vary (for example, zinc and iridium are also used). For the purposes of comparison, we have assumed that the non-gold content is half silver and half copper and have used these for calculations. Silver and copper are very cheap in these quantities so add very little to the overall cost of production. Silver is valued at approximately 34p per gram (March 18th 2016) and copper is approximately 3p per gram. This means that the materials beside gold in a 4 gram 18 carat gold ring would cost less than 20p.
*Cartier 5mm wedding band in 18 carat yellow gold retails at £830 and weighs 4.2 grams. The ring is 3.15g gold and 1.05g other materials. We calculated the material value by multiplying the approximate current price of gold (£28 per gram) by 3.15 and adding 20 pence for the other materials (see explanation above).
**Theia 5mm Unisex Super Heavy D Shape Polished 18 carat Gold Wedding Ring retails at £231 (size L) and weighs 4.5 grams (sold by Amazon). The ring is 3.375g gold and 1.125g other materials. We calculated the material value by multiplying the approximate current price of gold (£28 per gram) by 3.375 and adding 20 pence for the other materials (see explanation above).
Prices correct March 17th 2016.
Immediate Release
March 24th 2016
Contact: [email protected]
Brides and grooms paying 800% mark-up for wedding rings
Brides and grooms are buying gold wedding rings at a mark-up of more than 800%, according to a new study. The comparison, by a jewellery advice guide, looked at plain wedding band prices from online retailers and found huge variations.
In one case, an 18 carat gold ring with a material value of £88.40 was being sold for £830, which is a mark-up of 841%.*
By contrast, another major online retailer was selling a near identical gold ring for £231, which works out as a 143% mark-up. **
The higher price is the equivalent of selling gold at £263 per gram, more than nine times its current price of about £28 per gram. Whilst gold remains an expensive metal, its value has fallen significantly over the last five years from its peak of nearly £38 per gram in September 2011.
The study was carried out by The Cheap Engagement Rings Guide, which aims to debunk some of the myths and misunderstandings about buying wedding and engagement rings.
Robert Lane from The Cheap Engagement Rings Guide said:
“Of course jewellers need to add a decent mark-up for the work that goes into making a wedding band, but it’s stunning to see how much of a variation there is in pricing for near-identical products. With a luxury item like a diamond engagement ring or a designer handbag you can certainly claim that you are paying more for greater quality or for an intricate design, but it is harder to justify when you are talking about plain gold wedding bands.”
“There’s no difference between the quality of gold bought from a trendy designer store compared to an independent jeweller or a web-only retailer. If brands are important to you then fair enough, but I’m sure many couples would rather save that money for a honeymoon or to pay for a few extra guests at the wedding.”
The Cheap Engagement Rings Guide has five tips for cutting the cost of wedding rings:
- Look online – If you know your ring size and don’t mind buying based on a photo then web-only stores are nearly always your cheapest option nowadays. Most offer a 30-day returns policy if you aren’t happy and some will pay for returns postage.
- Be patient - If you would rather buy from a trusted high street store then patience is the key. Their standard prices are relatively high, but sales come around regularly. Prices on Black Friday and Boxing Day are much closer to the best online prices.
- Haggle - London’s Hatton Garden and Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter are worth a look if you are confident enough to haggle. Both have a high concentration of jewellers vying for your business so play it cool and you might be able to bag a bargain. Our advice? Don’t shop with your fiancé/fianceé if you’ll be too embarrassed to negotiate in front of them.
- Shun gold - Choosing an alternative to gold can slash the cost dramatically. Cobalt, tungsten, titanium and silver rings can be picked up for the cost of a takeaway. In contrast, platinum is usually more expensive than gold.
- Buy second hand - The private second hand market is where you will find the cheapest wedding rings. Many people are superstitious about ‘preloved’ jewellery but if you don’t live your life by black cats, horse shoes and four-leaf clovers then you can save big.
Examples of the cheapest and most expensive rings, by gram of gold:
- ‘Refurbished’ second hand jeweller: £54 per gram of gold (Jollys Jewellers on eBay - £149, 3.64g ring)
- eBay based jeweller: £64 per gram of gold (Trojan Ltd via eBay - £189, size Q, 3.9g ring)
- Big name online retailer: £68 per gram of gold (Amazon - £231, size L, 4.5g ring)
- Independent online jeweller: £77 per gram of gold (Purely Diamonds – £233, 4.0g ring)
- Typical High Street jeweller: £114 per gram of gold (Fraser Hart - £550 ring, 6.4g ring)
- 'Luxury' jeweller: £263 per gram of gold (Cartier - £830, 4.2g ring)
For more advice visit www.cheap-engagement-rings.co.uk
Notes to editors:
Explanation of calculations:
18 carat yellow gold wedding bands are 75% gold and 25% other metals. This is calculated by weight rather than volume, meaning that an 18 carat gold ring weighing 4 grams would be 3 grams gold and 1 gram other materials. These other materials are typically silver and copper but it does vary (for example, zinc and iridium are also used). For the purposes of comparison, we have assumed that the non-gold content is half silver and half copper and have used these for calculations. Silver and copper are very cheap in these quantities so add very little to the overall cost of production. Silver is valued at approximately 34p per gram (March 18th 2016) and copper is approximately 3p per gram. This means that the materials beside gold in a 4 gram 18 carat gold ring would cost less than 20p.
*Cartier 5mm wedding band in 18 carat yellow gold retails at £830 and weighs 4.2 grams. The ring is 3.15g gold and 1.05g other materials. We calculated the material value by multiplying the approximate current price of gold (£28 per gram) by 3.15 and adding 20 pence for the other materials (see explanation above).
**Theia 5mm Unisex Super Heavy D Shape Polished 18 carat Gold Wedding Ring retails at £231 (size L) and weighs 4.5 grams (sold by Amazon). The ring is 3.375g gold and 1.125g other materials. We calculated the material value by multiplying the approximate current price of gold (£28 per gram) by 3.375 and adding 20 pence for the other materials (see explanation above).
Prices correct March 17th 2016.
