Branded gold & diamond jewellery attracting Indian buyers

• Posted by Sindhuri G August 29, 2012 - Filed in Business - 2,023 views

  First the good news: India consumed 125 tonnes of gold in pure jewellery form in the April to June quarter of 2012. "That will be more than what the entire US market will consume this year," reckons David Lamb, managing director, jewellery, World Gold Council (WGC), an association of the world's leading gold mining companies.
  
  That, in an increasingly brand-obsessed market like India, would spell a huge opportunity for organised players. Except for one hurdle: a yet-to-be-released study by WGC — which recently launched a wedding jewellery collection called Azva — reveals that over 80 per cent of the 13,000 Indian women surveyed look at gold as a financial investment. Many of the women also pointed to the spiritual significance of the metal. Traditionally, Indians are comfortable buying their gold jewellery from family-owned brands that have been around for generations.
  
  The upshot: how do you sell a brand of jewellery in such a market where rationalism prevails by a long way over aspiration and impulse? And in a market flooded with brands, how do you differentiate your product from the rest of the clutter? After all, as Kiran Dixit, group head for advertising & marketing at TBZ - The Original, points out: "Jewellers who are active on the marketing front have hardly done any differentiation.
  
  If you hide the logo of any jewellery ad, it's very difficult to identify which jeweller's advertisement you are looking at." If brands — both gold and diamond — feel they have a chance, it's with good reason. GenY is looking for contemporary designs, convenience and an enjoyable shopping experience.
  
  The Gitanjali group, which has some 20 gold and diamond brands in its portfolio, is boldly going forward with an FMCG mindset. The group works with 70 designers, is constantly introducing new designs and its brands are present at 3,000 of an estimated 500,000 jewellers in the country.
  
  Says Abhishek Gupta, head of strategy & investor relations at the Gitanjali group: "We have learnt distribution techniques from the FMCG sector. We have national, regional and area level distributors."
  
  WGC's Lamb reckons that the shift being witnessed from the West to the East across a spectrum of global brands is extending itself to jewellery. "We are seeing a dynamic shift in the consumption of gold jewellery from the mature markets; the balance of power is shifting to India and China."
  
  WGC's wedding jewellery collection Azva is targeted at modern Indian couples in the 23 to 30 age group. Lamb is particularly excited about the marketing strategy for Azva, which has BBH working on its communication, Landor on the brand identity, Maxus doing its media strategy and design consultancy Fitch taking care of the retail look.