Maheep Gupta, owner, Raj Jewellers

Trigger:
A business that is more than a century old needs to keep up with the times. That is the way forward. At our business, everything was being done manually. When I stepped in nearly four years ago, I found that there was a crying need for a mechanized, professional system. This would help us to conduct our business better as well as engage more professionally with the customers. Over the years, our client profile was also getting younger and it was important to reach out to everybody in a systematic manner. This was the least that customers expected of an established jeweller.

Execution:
After I joined the family business four years ago, two years were spent on just understanding the basics. It was fascinating to see how the jewellery business functions – everything looks so smooth and easy. In reality, however, a lot of planning and thought process goes into making the business successful. I realised that if we had to keep up with the times, we had to change the existing culture. The operations which involved buying of raw material, sales, marketing, pricing, decision making and so on, had to be regularised. I put forth my views and ideas to the seniors in the family and everybody agreed and supported me. So, last two years we have been working on changing from manual to computerized operations. The timing required to make a jewellery piece and bring it to the showroom has been shortened. So, if a few customers like the same piece of jewellery and we don’t have enough in the showroom, it will now be ensured that it is made and delivered fast. Also, pricing has been made more dynamic. It is dependent on the price of gold and will keep varying as the rate rises and falls in the market. We no longer are going to price jewellery as per our whims. The staff has been trained accordingly and everybody is in the loop. Customers should no longer feel that they may be taken for a ride. The idea behind this whole exercise is to focus on value creation and giving our customers an invaluable experience.

Result:
The change is still underway but so far customers have been impressed with the professionalism that they have seen. Their trust in us has been reaffirmed forever.