On Navratri, jewellery industry finds a new occasion to cheer

Ram Navami and the nine days of festivity around it have the potential to become another important date on the business calendar of jewellery retailers

If Diwali, Akshay Tritiya, Valentine’s Day, et al make jewellers happy, here comes another occasion that has the potential to cheer them up and perhaps become another important date on their business calendar. Last week, Ram Navami that celebrates the birth of Lord Rama, brought another opportunity for jewellers from all over India to reach out to their consumers with new collection launches and several marketing activities.

According to Saumitra Saraf, Partner at Aisshpra Gems and Jewels of Gorakhpur, Navratri is considered to be a good time for market promotions as most other industries are docile during the period, and this gives the jewellery industry a good opportunity to create brand recall. “April and May being some of the brightest months besides Diwali in the calendar year, they contribute significantly to the top and bottom line of the jewellery business. The market is set to pick up as Navratri is followed by Akshay Tritiya,” says Saraf. To give the month of March enough relevance and to promote pre-bookings for Akshay Tritiya, Aisshpra Gems and Jewels released a new collection on Navratri last week.

Similarly, Manepally Jewellers of Hyderabad came up with ‘Long Haram’ necklaces with temple design of the Ram Parivaar. One of the pendants had Nakshi Pachi work with Swarovski crystals, rubies and pearl drops. Another neckpiece, made with a traditional touch, and designed with emeralds and pearl drops, sought to highlight Lord Rama’s family at its core, along with Godess Lakshmi’s motifs.

Talla Jewellers of Jammu too came up with a precious gold jewellery collection called ‘Navakta’ for Navratri – ‘Nav’ means nine and ‘Nakta’ means nice. Nine jewellery pieces of different categories were included in it – maang teeka, nose ring, chik patti, choker, pendant set, regal necklace set, rani haar, bangles and a ring. “After visiting the past two IIJS shows in Mumbai and Bangalore, we have really revamped and revived our temple jewellery collection and keeping its auspiciousness in mind, we unveiled the collection during this Navratri,” says Kashish Gupta, CEO and Director at Talla Jewellers Pvt Ltd.

“For us North Indians, in the Jammu and Kashmir culture, both the Navratris are considered equally auspicious. After Holi, all of the ethnic Kashmiri community and people from Jammu who believe in pundits, wait for Navratri to begin in order to start their jewellery shopping for auspicious occasions such as weddings,” says Gupta.

Amit Sathe, Owner, Sathe Jewellers, Nagpur too agrees that Ram Navami is an auspicious day that can become big for jewellers. “I think this day can be promoted like other festive occasions such as Akshaya Tritiya,” he says.

“On most occasion days, we launch an appropriate piece of jewellery or collection. For this festive season, we are coming up with a new collection called ‘Firdoz’ and it is inspired by the Mughal Gardens and Indian architecture,” says Dipu Mehta, Managing Director of Orra Fine Jewellery confirming the fact that every occasion can be a reason to innovate and come out with something new for the consumer who is ready to buy a new piece of jewellery to mark a celebration.

Ankur Anand, Director, Harsahaimal Shiamalal Jewellers, Mumbai, who launched an exclusive Ram Mandir silver collection on Ram Navami, is also hopeful about the occasion. “Our collection has the exact replica of the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya with the same carvings. We have used sterling silver of around 6.5 kgs. It has a light inside which can be illuminated in the evening. The mandir collection took four-and-a-half months to complete. As Ram Navami is the last day of the Navratri, a lot of the customers visited the store to purchase wedding jewellery,” Anand says.

Although several jewellers like Abhay Agarwal, Owner, Kanhaiya Lal Saraf Jewellers of Mumbai did not do anything specific on Ram Navami, they think it has great potential for occasion marketing by jewellers. “I strongly think that the jewellery community must do some kind of activity on the day of Ram Navami,” Agarwal asserts.

Meanwhile, many jewellers like Anand Prakash, Director, Abhushan Diamonds and Gold, Mumbai and Amit Sathe of Sathe Jewellers offered discounts on the occasion of Ram Navami while other carried out marketing activities specific to the occasion.  

Written by Janhavi Ganguly

RJ Exclusive