Experts in the jewellery industry throw light on some crucial questions of retailers

Answer: You need not spend like a corporate jeweller to function better than them. You have to focus on Customer Retention Management (CRM). Attractive loyalty programmes work. For example, sending a special cake on a birthday or a special card to the husband one week before his anniversary asking if he wants to gift anything to his wife. To remind customers about the brand, salespersons can call at least 10 customers daily, and enquire if they want to buy something for any upcoming function or event. If you target 400 customers in a year, at least 30% will give you business. Organize promotional events on the premises of large residential complexes. Do these to retain old customers, and get new ones as well.

– Navin Sadarangani, Founder of NYUZ, Mumbai

Answer: Before starting your market research:

1. Define your research objectives clearly – the specific information or insights you want to gather.

2. Identify your target market and study its demographics, psychographics, geographic location and purchasing behaviour

3. Choose the right research methods and develop a detailed plan outlining the research steps, timeline and resources needed

4. Consider budget and resources and decide whether you need to hire external resources.

5. Ensure that the data you collect is reliable and accurate, to analyze it and derive meaningful insights.

6. Implement the insights gained from market research into actionable strategies and initiatives. Together with your rich experience of 75 years, market research data will become valuable to achieve long-term success.

– Divyesh Shah, Founder & Principal Consultant, DS Consulting

Answer: Diamonds are highly aspirational. But natural diamond mines are almost exhausted and new ones are not getting environmental clearance. Demand for diamonds is increasing and by 2030, the demand-supply gap will reach around 159 million carats. Lab-grown diamonds will play a crucial role to fill that gap. They are cheaper compared to natural diamonds because there is no mining cost associated with them. So, they will anyway sell in the market. Both will co-exist, though the price of natural diamonds will only go up further.

– Prasad Kapre, CEO and Director, Style Quotient Jewellery Pvt. Ltd, Mumbai

Answer: The mining of natural diamonds has almost stopped and due to this, a lot of big diamond players have launched lab-grown diamond brands, for which the demand will only increase. Lab-grown diamonds are made through actual diamond seeds in a controlled environment and are backed by the Government too. Indian retailers have no reason to worry as far as lab-grown diamonds are concerned.

– Shashikant Dalichand Shah, Chairperson, Lab Grown Diamond and Jewellery Promotion Council

Answer: Building an ongoing relationship with the customer, leveraging marketing and a motivated team that is willing to connect with the customer where she is, rather than expecting her to come to your store, is the solution. When other businesses are marketing themselves aggressively, to woo the customers, you must differentiate with great service.

– A Shivram, Founder, Retail Gurukul Bengaluru

Answer: Proceed on an order basis with your suppliers and vendors or your in-house production team after taking a lead time from the customer. Also, negotiate with your suppliers for giving stocks on an approval/consignment basis. It’s also very important to stock your “50 best sellers” so that customers can pick them.

– Premjit Sengupta, Marketing and Brand Consultant Mumbai

Answer: Margins have dropped, but number of potential customers has increased, and so have their expectations. You would have specialities that other retailers can’t offer. The future is to build a relationship, understand customers’ unmet needs, source products that are not available to them and operate beyond the physical catchment area.

– A Shivram, Founder, Retail Gurukul Bengaluru