RJIF 2021: Powering business with Technology: Driving perso-nalization, productivity and processes in retail

Traditionally, the jewellery industry thrived on key contacts and the digital era demands efficiency in data and persona analysis. Delineating the drastic changes in strategy, Suntech Business Solution presented its pandemic-savvy solutions.

Rishikesh Trivedi, digital transformation advisor of Suntech Business Solutions, started the session by recollecting the topics in discussion among the high-profile jewellery brethren just before pandemic struck the world. Corporatisation of brands and an international position for every jewellery enterprise had become the most pressing need back then. “We spoke of future consumer trends as jewellery was going from being an asset class to a fashion class. We brainstormed on how, at a consumer level, there was a movement from an information-poor to an attention-deficit environment. Covid-19 changed that,” he said.

While lockdowns kept people indoors, the world channeled its appetite for knowledge and entertainment online, due to which people are spending 7-10 times more time on screen, said Trivedi. In India, a jewellery brand can capitalize on this notion and create a promotional strategy centered around design excellence, fashion and investment value. “The content for design excellence can be sub-divided into aesthetics and visual design using AR/VR. Influencers, not necessarily filmstars, are appealing prospects significantly. The brand also has to weave in the investment value a luxurious product such as jewellery provides to impress today’s customers,” Trivedi maintained.

All of that has to apply to the informed base of prospects who are evaluating jewellery online. “E-commerce is growing at a rate of 30%-40% when compared to pre-Covid times, when it was growing at 10%-12%. Post-Covid, the flow of information has doubled. The wealth chasm, on the other hand, has increased. The rich have become richer, which is good for the gem and jewellery industry, which has predominantly been a luxury space,” he said.

Addressing immediate requirements of innovation, Suntech came up with an innovation lab that specialized in better customer experience, aid business reconfiguration and boost the product offering. They created solutions for e-commerce, digital commerce and analytics, while helping brands get their products to the market faster. “Suntech develops impressive customer portfolio based on preferences, location and cross-screen targeting of personas.

“With programmatic ad tech platforms, Suntech targets personas with the support of 60-plus ad exchanges. Besides social media advertising and social listening, Suntech has also tied up with their technology partners to create an offline device for customer data collection at an on-ground activity by jewellery brands,” Trivedi explained.

The discussion ended with the need for fresh data across marketing and sales which can form new perspectives to be used for better product quality, customer experience and higher growth. “Traditionally, jewellers have not been very data-focused. With 20-plus years of experience in the industry, Suntech provides domain-specific algorithms on inventory management and insight which keeps a brand updated with current market scenario,” Trivedi concluded.

Due to unavoidable absence at the 2021 forum, this article is based on Trivedi’s insights shared with the editorial team after the forum.

Courtesy: Retail Jeweller India News