Kerala-based Chungath Jewellery leads fight against pandemic

by Suneeta Kaul

The raging corona pandemic has forced retail jewelers to try out many things – new ways of selling their products, novel schemes, interesting brand promotions, quirky messaging, adoption of the online medium, and what have you. Kerala-based Chungath Jewellery, headquartered in Ernakulam, with branches all over the state, is doing all this – and more.

To start off, Chungath, which offers gold, diamond, platinum and silver jewellery, has launched an app, compatible with Android handsets as well as iPhones, and available on Play Store, as well as the company’s website, which enables its customers to access all its services, including its monthly gold savings scheme.

Moreover, it is among the first few companies to have installed Shycocan (Scalene Hypercharge Corona Canon), a medical device designed, created and assembled at the Bengaluru-based Organisation de Scalene, to prevent transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 in public areas, and which has proven to have an efficacy of 99.9 per cent against the COVID-19 virus.

Overcoming the pandemic

Says Rajeev Paul, Managing Director, Chungath Jewellery, “Retail jewellery, like other businesses, has suffered a lot because of the pandemic. All of us are struggling to get back on track, and even though nothing is the same as before, we are doing what we can. In addition to enforcing a strict protocol for walk-in customers, shift system for our staff members, and rotation of the employees, we have also installed Shycocan, the device that has proven to neutralize the corona virus. We might probably be the first retail jeweller to install it for commercial purposes.”

Incidentally, Shycocan is a small, environment-friendly, drum-like device that can be set up in restaurants, offices, malls, schools, homes, etc. When plugged into a socket and turned on, it produces hyper-charged high-velocity electrons by photon mediation that interact with the negative-seeking S-protein of the Corona family of viruses, neutralizing them in the process. It is not a cure for coronavirus, but a medical device that prevents further spread of the virus.

In order to overcome the negative impact of the pandemic, Chungath has had to tweak its business model and change the medium of its brand message. “We have moved the majority of our budget to digital media from print. In the pre-Covid era, we were mostly focusing on print and outdoor mediums, but post Covid, we have completely closed outdoor mediums because there is lesser movement of the general public,” explains Paul.

Interestingly, while several companies have had to postpone their activities because of the pandemic, Chungath has actually preponed its plans. The company was due to launch its designer jewellery store and a jewellery designing institute in 2021-22, but it decided to go ahead with these initiatives earlier than proposed. The institute is already operational, providing training to a number of youngsters.

Looking ahead, Paul feels that the coming year will bring better news for the retail jewellery industry. According to him, a lot of pent-up demand will be released, which will benefit the entire industry. Besides, the coming wedding season is also bound to bring glad tidings to retail jewellers.

“The wedding season is a very big deal in India, but even more so in Kerala, which is a gold-obsessed state. Here, the families of the bride and the groom go together to purchase wedding jewellery, and sometimes, they add up to 10 to 20 people. Due to Covid regulations, only five people can shop at the same time inside the store, so we have had to make separate arrangements for such purchases,” says Paul.

Well, once the vaccine is available, perhaps the big Malayali family can start shopping for jewellery together all over again.

Courtesy: Retail Jeweller India News Service.