Mother’s Day: Brands promote motherly love cautiously amid pandemic havoc

MANOJ CHAKRABORTY

Mother’s Day became a bittersweet experience this year. With the mortality rate showing no signs of plateauing thanks to pandemic, the jewellery industry had one of the toughest times to celebrate one of the biggest international occasions for gifting. The industry remained divided on their approaches toward this occasion.

Few brands decided to tone their respective intensity of campaigns down to remain sympathetic to the prevailing alarming health scenario and stoke the need for stronger familial bond. Senco Gold and Diamonds, Kolkata, approached the occasion cautiously by appealing to the dire emotional need of motherly affection.

“In the lockdown, while we do want to care about our mother, survival itself has become critical. In such crises, human relationships and positive thinking will keep us going,” said Suvankar Sen, CEO, Senco Gold and Diamonds, Kolkata. The brand went ahead with promoting earring and studs in the Rs 12,000-30,000 price range to keep the spirit alive.

Echoing similar narratives have been the strategy of PNG Jewellers, which tapped into the emotions of the increasingly young Indian clientele to help make their mothers feel special during lockdown. Since e-commerce is the only platform of business available in certain places outside Maharashtra, the brand also witnessed peak in jewellery demand at the Rs 15000 to 25000/- with minimalistic designs.

Aisshpra Gems and Jewels took a different route of jewellery personalization for its clientele to help spread the celebration while maintaining social distancing norms enforced by the state government and maintaining healthcare of its workforce. “Mother’s Day is important for customers, especially for the young clientele, who want to gift their mothers a meaningful piece of jewellery,” said Vaibhav Saraf, Director, Aisshpra Gems and Jewels. Highlights of their campaign included their Pankhuri collection diamond starting from Rs.8000.

Irrespective of the market low, Mother’s Day has been gaining ground as a strong occasion for jewellery sale over the years, believes Saraf. His brand has received more inquiries about their popular Circle of Love collection this year than in 2020. “If everything was normal and stores were open, we would have been able to sell at least 80-90 small-ticket diamond jewellery items on Mother’s Day,” he added. The brand chief believes that lockdown has presented an opportunity of spending time with family to the youth, which in turn has made jewellery inquiries for the occasion the highest in a three-year stretch.

PNG Jewellers chairman Saurabh Gadgil believes that prevailing conditions have redirected the brand’s focus on online sale. “E-commerce has certainly been of great help, since delivery of non-essential products is not possible within Maharashtra and few places outside Maharashtra at the moment. We believe ecommerce will continue to grow fast in the jewellery space. We are upgrading our capabilities every day,” he said.

Jaipur-based Parina Jewels also optimized activities online. As part of their #MarvelousMom campaign, the brand promoted Instagram stories on 10 multi-tasking women from various walks of life to inspire the current generation of mothers-to-be. “Two-three years ago,we used to do a lot of in-store events and promotions for Mother’s Day, but we completely took it onlinethis year,” said brand owner Parina Jain. For Aisshpra although, focus has predominantly been more on in-store sale because of the comparatively lesser exposure to e-commerce generally in Gorakhpur and related logistical issues. Still, the brand is developing its online platform after so many virtual requests for jewellery purchase.

However, Kalyan Jewellers, Malabar Gold and Diamonds and Reliance Jewels halted all plans for Mother’s Day promotions across in-store and online verticals owing to the grim healthcare scenario of India.

Three significant takeaways emerged from the activities by the jewellery brands. Most of them acknowledged the immense potential of e-commerce in unavoidable circumstances such as that of the pandemic. Their activities helped prepare for upcoming promotion for Akshay Tritiya. Price-point became the most important factor for sales conversion in luxury segment at the moment. Most importantly, the willingness of many brands to weave in new techniques for Mother’s Day despite the healthcare issues proved the strong potential of this occasion for future gifting trends in India.

Courtesy: Retail Jeweller India News Service