On Dhanteras, young shoppers prefer ‘family jewellers’ to keep up tradition

Thanks to attractive discounts and cashback offers, online shopping is the preferred choice for shoppers this festive season, leaving many retailers and traders aggrieved. But there is still one section of retailers who are not complaining about online shopping cutting into their share of business – jewellers. When it comes to buying precious metal or jewellery for Dhanteras, shoppers do not even look at attractive discounts and offers on jewellery shopping platforms, rather they make an appointment with their “family jeweller”.

Findings of a recent survey by Retailers Association of India (RAI) and LitmusWorld indicate that 76% of those surveyed were looking to shop online this festive season. Fashion and apparel is on top (71%), followed by home appliances and electronics (49%) and mobile phones (40%). In 2015, a survey by global research firm Ipsos also listed clothes as the topmost planned purchase during festive season, and the lowest on this list was jewellery, with only 8% respondents planning to buy gold online.

So why is that Dhanteras shopping (for gold and silver) still happens the traditional way? “Lack of trust is why people avoid online purchases,” states a 2017 survey (by Chrome Data Analytics) and shoppers agree that when it comes to shopping for precious metals, they would always go to someone they trust. “After my marriage, I moved from Kolkata to Delhi, but I still buy jewellery from our family jeweller in Kolkata. Trust is the most important factor while buying jewellery. Jewellery in families is for keeps and is often passed from one generation to other, so I would want to buy that jewellery from a person I trust, who knows my family, who can accommodate my last-minute requests or make changes to the jewellery after years, if required,” says Nicky Aggarwal, a 31-year-old housewife and a resident of Pitampura.

Touch and feel factor is important to know about purity, weight of jewellery
While it is true that most young shoppers are addicted to online shopping, but even those who depend on online platforms for their everyday shopping, would not risk buying jewellery online. Purity, authenticity and weight of gold or silver jewellery are reasons why they would want to touch and feel the jewellery before buying.

Courtesy: TimesOfIndia.IndiaTimes.com