Supply Chain Resilience in Jewelry: What ERP Can Teach Post-Tariff & Freight Shock

If you think supply chain disruptions belong only to big manufacturing or tech companies, think again. The jewelry and watch industry is squarely in the cross-hairs of trade tariffs, freight cost swings, material scarcity, and global logistics bottlenecks. For U.S. and Canadian players—from retailers to wholesalers, manufacturers to repair facilities—these shocks aren’t theoretical. They’re happening now, and they’re squeezing margins and delaying deliveries.

In this environment, adopting robust software becomes not just an efficiency gain but a strategic necessity. That’s where a multi-software suite like Luxare by Diaspark steps in. In this post I’ll unpack why the supply chain is under pressure today, how the jewelry industry is being impacted, and how you can use ERP, demand-forecasting modules, sourcing tracking and freight cost integration to build resilience.

The current squeeze: Tariffs & freight cost volatility

First up: what’s driving the supply-chain stress?

Tariffs. As of 2025, the U.S. has implemented sweeping tariffs on jewelry imports, finished goods and components from many countries. For instance, the jewelry industry is cited as being in “turmoil” because of the tariff hikes and the global chain of sourcing. One article notes that a baseline 10% tariff was applied globally, followed by higher country-specific duties. The upshot: costs you thought were stable are now rising.

Freight & logistics. On the freight side, global supply-chain cost pressures continue to increase. A recent report projects supply-chain costs will exceed inflation by up to 7% by Q4 2025. Historically, jewelry products rely on small components, global sourcing of metals, gemstones, settings, craft work—and fast, reliable logistics. Delays or cost increases here ripple directly into your cost of goods sold, inventory lead times, and ultimately your retail margins.

Combined impact for jewelry/watch players. For example, a jewelry piece may be designed in the U.S., cast in India, gemstones sourced from Africa, assembled in Thailand, shipped to Canada, then distributed to U.S. retail outlets. Tariffs and freight costs affect every link. One trade-industry article observes that “behind the joy of a diamond engagement ring … lies a complex web of cross-border trade, material sourcing and political influence.” Additionally, the uncertainty of origin, classification, and tariff changes adds risk: you may plan for one cost structure and wake up with another.

Related Read: Gold Price Surge & What Jewelers Should Do Now: Protect Margins, Inventory & POS Strategies

Why this matters for your business

If you’re running or serving the jewelry/watch space in North America, you already feel the pressure:

• Your procurement cost may rise unpredictably (both because of duties and freight).
• Your lead times may lengthen or become unreliable.
• Your inventory strategy may fail: you stock too much (tying up capital) or too little (losing sales).
• Your margins may shrink: if you absorb cost increases, your profitability erodes; if you pass them to customers, you risk losing business.
• Your sourcing concentration becomes a vulnerability: if you rely heavily on one manufacturing region now subject to a tariff spike or logistic bottleneck, you’re exposed.

Navigating this means you need more than brute force (buy earlier, pay more). You need intelligence: demand forecasting, alternate sourcing, freight cost tracking, and supplier performance insight. And—critically—you need software that supports it.

What ERP (and related modules) can teach the jewelry supply-chain today

Let’s get practical. Here are four key capabilities that software—especially an integrated ERP or suite like Luxare by Diaspark—can bring, and how they can protect your supply chain.

1. Demand forecasting & inventory optimization

Rather than just “how many pieces do we have”, you need to ask: How many should we have given the volatility around sourcing and cost?

• Track long-lead components (e.g., specialty gemstones, castings) and feed lead-time variation into forecasts.
• Use historical sales, seasonality (holiday spikes, wedding cycles) and supplier lead times to model “safe stock” vs. “just in time”.
• If freight or tariff spikes seem likely, build buffer inventory where it makes sense—not for everything, but for key high-risk SKUs or components.
• Monitor inventory aging and risk of obsolescence; margin erosion happens when you carry high-cost stock that's hard to sell.

When your ERP is configured to flag slow-turn items, forecast demand shifts, and link them to procurement planning, you get ahead of the disruption rather than reacting after it hits.

2. Alternate sourcing & supplier-performance tracking

In a volatile world, your sourcing strategy needs resilience. That means: knowing your suppliers, having alternative sources, understanding cost/lead-time trade-offs—and tracking performance.

• Map your sourcing network in your system: region, country of origin, lead time, tariff exposure, freight cost baseline
• Define and monitor supplier KPIs: on-time delivery, quality, cost changes, responsiveness to tariff/freight shifts
• When tariffs hit, you need to know: can this SKU be produced elsewhere cheaper or faster? Your software must support supplier-mix modelling (for example: China vs. Vietnam vs. Mexico) and cost comparison
• Document country of origin and “substantial transformation” compliance: many tariffs hinge on where the manufacturing/processing occurs. One article notes that origin rules matter deeply for jewelry
• Flag risk: if one supplier region is flagged for new duties or freight bottlenecks (via real-time data/alerts), you must switch or hedge quickly

By having alternate suppliers tracked in your ERP and procurement module, you won’t be caught flat-footed when the next tariff or blockage hits

3. Freight cost integration & landed-cost visibility

It’s not just the tariff that kills margin—it’s the total landed cost: materials + labor + freight + duties + customs + inventory carrying cost. Your ERP must capture all this to make informed decisions

• Integrate freight cost data (ocean, air, land) into item costing. If freight doubles, your cost basis changes.
• Track duty/tariff changes per country, component, finished good and feed them into costing. As one jewelry-industry report says, “Even a 10 percent tariff adds up extremely quickly at the value scale of jewelry
• Provide “what-if” modelling: what happens if freight rises 20%, duties rise 15%—how does your margin look?
• Link landed cost with retail price or wholesale price so you maintain margin integrity rather than retroactively scrubbing costs.

When your system gives you real-time or near-real‐time landed-cost visibility, you can adjust sourcing, pricing, or inventory proactively rather than getting surprised.

4. Supplier & risk-dashboard tracking

With so many moving parts—tariffs, freight, labour, inventory risk—you need a dashboard that alerts you, not just a spreadsheet. Your software should enable a “supply-chain resilience dashboard”.

• Monitor supplier lead-time variance, cost variance, freight cost variance.
• Track sourcing concentration per SKU (how many suppliers, how many countries). High concentration = higher risk.
• Monitor KPI triggers: e.g., if freight cost > X % above baseline OR if lead time > Y days OR if tariff on country Z > X %, alert procurement/management.
• Link to inventory risk: e.g., if SKU depends on country with rising tariff AND supplier lead time has increased, flag it for buffer inventory or alternate sourcing.

By embedding these signals into your ERP or supply-chain module, your business becomes more agile. You’re not just responding—you’re anticipating.

How Luxare by Diaspark offers these capabilities for jewelry & watch businesses

Let’s tie this back to Luxare. Your business serves jewelers, watch retailers, manufacturers, wholesalers, and watch/repair facilities across the U.S. and Canada—so you need software that speaks your language and covers your verticals. Here’s how Luxare’s suite supports the four capabilities outlined above:

• Forecasting & inventory optimization: Luxare’s ERP module offers demand-planning tools built for jewelry/watch SKUs (with attributes like metal weight, gemstone type, finish, design series). You can model lead times, buffer stock levels, reorder triggers, and retirement of slow-turn items.
• Supplier and sourcing management: The module lets you map each item to a supplier region, track origin, lead time, tariffs, and cost history. When a region is flagged (tariff rise, labor issue, freight delay), you can automatically score sourcing-risk and pivot to alternate suppliers.
• Landed-cost & freight integration: Luxare allows you to tag each SKU with landed cost metadata (material cost + labor + freight + duties). You can input freight cost updates, tariff changes, duty changes, and instantly see margin erosion or margin preservation.
• Supply-chain risk dashboards: At a glance you can see supplier performance, inventory risk exposures, sourcing concentration, tariff/freight alerts, all in one view. For repair and refurbish operations (important in watches), you can also track inbound/outbound logistics, cost of parts, lead times, and service-turnover risk.

In short: your business gets an integrated platform that helps you navigate a turbulent supply-chain environment—not just survive, but potentially gain competitive advantage by being nimble, informed, and proactive.

If you'd like to set some time with our team, book a demo here.

What business leaders should do now

Knowing the tools is one thing; executing is another. Here’s a practical short-term roadmap for your jewelry/watch operations:

1. Map your sourcing exposure
   • List every major component, finish, foundry, gemstone or watch part by country of origin, supplier, lead time, cost baseline.
   • Tag each with tariff risk (is the country under new or proposed duties?), freight risk (long shipment path, many transits, high theft risk?).
   • Identify high-risk SKUs (e.g., single country supply, long lead times, high value).
2. Run “what-if” scenarios
   • With your ERP (Luxare) or spreadsheet if you haven’t yet, model: what if freight cost rises 20%, what if duties rise 10–30 %? How is margin affected?
   • For the high-risk SKUs, identify possible sourcing alternatives: e.g., Indonesia vs. India vs. Mexico, or local production.
   • Use these outputs to create a risk mitigation plan: alternate supplier contracts, smaller batch buffers, design shifts.
3. Revise procurement & inventory strategy
   • For SKUs with high risk: increase buffer stock, shorten production/supply chain, shift to more regional suppliers or domestic for critical lines.
   • For SKUs with less risk but high volume: optimize just-in-time with strong freight tracking and supplier SLA enforcement.
   • Establish landed-cost monitoring: update freight + duties every month (or quarter) and adjust pricing accordingly.
4. Set supply-chain KPIs and alerts
   • Define key metrics: supplier lead-time variance, freight cost variance, landed-cost change, supplier defect rate, sourcing-region concentration.
   • Configure your software (Luxare or other) to send warnings if any metric hits a threshold (e.g., cost up > 10% in 30 days, lead-time > baseline + 20 %).
   • Review monthly at executive/ops level and make corrective decisions (source swap, design change, pricing update).
5. Communicate with your sales, retail, manufacturing teams
   • Supply-chain resilience isn’t just a back-office issue—it affects design, merchandising, pricing, and sales.
   • Educate your retail and wholesale channels: tell them how you’re responding to tariff/freight risk, what the impact is on availability or pricing, so you build trust.
   • Use your POS and ERP data to feed insights: which SKUs are performing, which are under risk, which have margin erosion—share this with teams so the business adapts.

Final thoughts: Building competitive advantage through resilience

While supply chain shocks are disruptive, they can also be differentiators. In a market where many jewelry businesses will struggle with cost rises, supply delays, and margin pressure, those who have built resilient systems will be leaner, faster, and more trusted.

Using software like Luxare by Diaspark turns what might feel like chaos into a competitive asset:

• Agility: You can shift suppliers, routing, sourcing faster.
• Visibility: You know your landed cost, sourcing risk, inventory exposure.
• Control: You’re not reacting after the event—you’re anticipating and adapting.
• Trust: Whether you’re a retailer or repair facility, your customers benefit when you can deliver reliably despite macro disruptions.

In the jewelry and watch world, where craftsmanship, design, authenticity and service matter, your operating system matters too. An ERP alone isn’t the magic—but the right ERP, with sourcing, freight, demand and margin intelligence built in, puts you ahead of most of the competition.

So if you’re looking to shore up your supply chain now, don’t wait for a crisis (whether tariff or freight) to force you there. Make resilience a built-in part of your operations. Your business, your customers and your margins will thank you.

‍

Learn more about how our ERP can add value in this tariff season. Contact us here or book a demo with our team.