One jewelry brand put only its archive on sale for Black Friday and kept new work at full price. Independents can use the same play on aged stock.
Insights · Marketing IntelligenceA Black Friday Plan That Discounts Only Old Stock
House of Harlow’s Meta return on ad spend went from 0.81x in October to 6.00x on 37 Meta-attributed purchases during Black Friday week in 2025, according to an agency-published case study. The brand discounted only its archive collections and kept everything new at full price.
- In an agency-published case, House of Harlow limited its Black Friday code to archive collections and kept new work and fine jewelry at full price.
- The agency reports Meta ROAS of 0.81x in October and 6.00x in BFCM week, with a $412 average order. These are platform-attributed figures, not proven lift, and the agency reports no margin after discounts.
- INSTORE’s 2026 Big Survey found inventory turnover is independents’ top improvement priority, and clearing old inventory ranks second for the year ahead.
- Run a fenced archive event with set phases and a hard stop, and measure it in recovered dollars, not ROAS.
What the brand actually did
House of Harlow is a luxury jewelry brand from Nicole Richie, with an average order above $400. Its agency, Noble Growth, published the holiday case study, so treat the numbers as agency-published and platform-attributed. The setup is what makes it useful.
One code, one scope. A single code, BF50, applied only to archive collections. Newer collections and fine jewelry stayed at full price the whole time.
Four planned phases. The sale opened Monday, November 24, with 50% off select archive styles. A mid-week push went to up to 70% off on November 26. A restock pulse added new archive styles at 50% off on November 28. A last-chance Cyber Monday phase at up to 70% off ran November 30 to December 1, and the sale ended at midnight. No pre-sale teasers, no extension.
Every channel told the same story. Meta ads created the demand, Google branded and promo search caught people already looking, and five Klaviyo emails mirrored each phase.
What the agency reports
| Metric | Reported result |
|---|---|
| Meta ROAS, October baseline | 0.81x |
| Meta ROAS, three-week lead-up | 4.33x |
| Meta ROAS, BFCM week | 6.00x (37 Meta-attributed purchases) |
| Meta ROAS, recovery week | 8.38x |
| Google promo asset for BF50 | 79 conversions on $88.41 spend |
| 5 sends, 22 orders, every send placed orders | |
| Shopify, Nov 1 to Dec 8 (all orders, not sale-only) | $33,353 revenue, 81 orders, $412 average order |
Read this with care. These are agency-published, platform-attributed figures, and the same order can be credited by Meta, Google and Klaviyo at once. ROAS here is attributed revenue against ad spend. It says nothing about margin after the discount. The Google and email figures run to December 1 while the Shopify totals run to December 8. And $33,353 across 81 orders is a modest online number for a nationally known brand.
So the lesson is not the ROAS. The lesson is the structure. The brand protected its new work, used the sale to clear what was sitting, and the agency reports the average order held at $412.
Why this fits an independent jeweler
INSTORE’s 2026 Big Survey of more than 500 independent jewelry store owners and managers across North America, fielded September 14 to October 12, put inventory turnover at the top of the list of things jewelers want to improve, named by 29%. Clearing old inventory ranked second among priorities for the next 12 months, named by 18%, behind only growth. 16% said more than half their inventory is over a year old. INSTORE’s summary of a typical store: “roughly a third of the merchandise has been sitting in the case for more than a year.”
That is the archive. Most independents already have one. The usual holiday mistake is the opposite of what House of Harlow did: a store-wide percentage off that trains customers to wait, hits the pieces that would have sold at full price anyway, and leaves the aged pieces exactly where they were.
The National Retail Federation forecasts November and December holiday spending of $1.013 trillion, up 4.2% from 2025, across all retail, not just jewelry. For most jewelers, holiday is the strongest selling window of the year, which makes it the best time to move aged goods. If you want the bigger picture on this season, we laid it out in Holiday 2026: price up, units down.
How to run an archive-only holiday event
1. Pull an aged inventory report this week
List every piece over 12 months in stock, with cost, current retail and category. Split it into three groups: pieces you will mark down, pieces you will send back on memo or return to the vendor, and pieces you will offer for redesign or remount. Start with pieces over 18 months, highest cost first. Only the first group goes into the sale.
2. Fence it off, physically and online
Give the archive its own case or table and its own page on your site. Name it something honest, such as The Vault or Last Call. New arrivals, bridal and anything you just bought for holiday stay at full price and out of that space.
3. Set phases with real dates and a hard stop
Pick three or four moments: an opening day, a mid-week push, a restock day where you add more aged pieces, and a last-chance day. Publish the end date and keep it. Extending a sale tells customers next year that the deadline does not mean anything. Before you advertise a percentage off, make sure the original price is one you actually charged. Federal and state rules govern comparison prices and sale claims.
4. Make every channel say the same thing on the same day
One message per phase, repeated in the window, on social, in email and in the store. If you run paid social, point it at the archive page. If you run Google ads, make sure someone searching your store name during the event sees the offer. Email your list once per phase, not every day.
5. Brief the floor
Your team needs a one-line answer to “is everything on sale?” Try: “Our archive pieces are, and the new collection and bridal are not.” Then walk the customer to the case they asked about first.
6. Measure in the store, not in the ad account
Track aged units sold, dollars recovered (sale revenue minus the cost of the aged pieces sold), and how many archive buyers also bought something at full price. Those numbers tell you whether the event worked. Platform ROAS will not.
The takeaway
A holiday promotion should move the pieces that are not moving. Discount the archive, protect the new work, set dates and keep them. Run the sale for your oldest pieces, not your best ones.
This article is general marketing information, not legal advice.
Frequently asked questions
Should independent jewelers run Black Friday sales?
A store-wide discount can train customers to wait and give away margin on pieces that would sell at full price. A narrower option is an archive-only event that discounts aged inventory while keeping new arrivals and bridal at full price, which is the structure House of Harlow used in an agency-published 2025 case study.
What did House of Harlow do for Black Friday 2025?
According to its agency, Noble Growth, the brand used one code, BF50, on archive collections only, ran four planned phases from November 24 to December 1 with no pre-sale and no extension, and coordinated Meta, Google and Klaviyo. The agency reports Meta ROAS rising from 0.81x in October to 6.00x in BFCM week. The figures are platform-attributed.
How much aged inventory do independent jewelers carry?
In INSTORE's 2026 Big Survey of more than 500 independent jewelry store owners and managers, 16% said more than half their inventory is over a year old, and INSTORE described a typical store as having roughly a third of its merchandise in the case for more than a year.
How should a jeweler measure a holiday clearance event?
Measure in the store: aged units sold, dollars recovered against cost, and how many archive buyers also bought a full-price item. Platform ROAS can double count orders across channels and does not show margin after the discount.