- Jewellery designer Maheep Kappor with actor Sridevi during her festive jewellery collection for Satyanis in Mumbai (Fotocorp photograph, for representation only)
By Tuhina Anand
There is something about festivals that makes people want to spend despite the rising costs and economy being not so robust. Sensing the opportunity, the traders too leave no stone unturned to lure the customers. Traditionally, Diwali has been the money spinner for jewelers every year. While talking to retailers one could sense that they are optimistic about the sale this year as opposed to the last when there was a gloomy outlook and had a conservative view on the sales. This year, things seems to have improved for the better.
One of the leading jewelry retailer, Tribhovandas Bhimji Zaveri Limited giving a comment on the market view this year, said, “India is a consumption story. When it comes to gold no one can stop Indians from buying it. Unlike the past customers buy jewellery based on their predetermined budgets. However, number of jewellery buyers are also increasing year over year in the market.”
TBZ for the festivals has launched attractive offer of 100 percent off on making charges of diamond jewellery and 50 percent off on making charges of gold jewellery. The spokesperson from TBZ added, ” The initial response for the offer has been very good across our showrooms.” TBZ has also launched a bridal collection keeping an eye of the marriage season that’s in the offing.
For Bhima Jewellers in Bangalore, Diwali accounts for around 30-35 percent of their total annual sales. Ram Kiran, the store In-charge, on the sale this year, said, “Sale is better this year than the last year. I think our sale will only increase as we approach Diwali and Dhanteras. People are buying antiques particularly this year besides there is demand for diamonds and platinum but gold definitely remains top on the list.”
He added, “This being our 13th year in Karnataka, we have attractive offers like Rs 100 off on per gram of gold. We have other attractive offers on platinum, diamonds and silver too. We also have a bumper prize that will be announced on November 16 where we will be giving 6 Maruti A-star cars.”
The shop is gung-ho on the sale because of both Diwali and then the marriage season. The purchase has been a mix of both small items besides big purchase some for investments and some keeping in mind the wedding season and some just adding to their own collection.
In Delhi, Gautam Chawla of Nathumal Jewellers, Delhi, giving a peek into the sales, said, “The sales have been pretty decent. Since we retail diamond jewellery, it has not seen much slump. This is also the marriage season, so we expect our sales to grow.”
Kaamil Ahmed Siddiqui of Blues Jewellery Company in Delhi, added, “We are getting good response this festive season. My rough estimate is that our sales are 50% more than the last year. We are growing even as market slumps. Currently, we have 200 walk-ins on an average. We expect more walk-ins as Dhanteras and Diwali near.” On the ironical phenomena, he said, “We are growing because we are only four-year-old. Our collection is new and word-of-mouth publicity is helping us. The older brands do not have much to offer in terms of collection, like we do.”
Looks like there is a positive outlook on sales this year from big retailers this year. Even a small retailer in Bangalore is more confident of the sales this year as compared to the last. An interesting fact he pointed was that despite the high gold rates people are amenable to buying small gold items like a ring or an ear ring unlike last year where demand in his shop was more for silver ware and silver coins.
In terms of big retailers, Gitanjali Group to attract customers this festive has come up with Samriddhi Offer 2012 offer to celebrate festive season with jewellery. To make shopping a memorable experience, Gitanjali Group is giving away the best offers to make this season celebrations grander. The offer spreads across all Gitanjali brands Asmi, Gili, D’damas, Nakshatra, Parineeta, Diya, Sangini, Gitanjali Jewels, Shuddhi jewels ,Gdivas, Jewel Souk, ME Jewels, Menz , Sagaee, Envi, Moira and Karina. One can get a free diamond and pearl jewellery with every purchase of more than Rs. 15,000 starting October 20 to November 18, 2012.
So be it big or small retailers, it seems it will be a Happy Diwali for the jewelers this year.
with inputs from Johnson Napier and Ananya Saha