RJIF 2021: From footfalls to finger-falls: How will customer expectations and convenience rule retail in the upcoming decade

Virtual try-ons, omnichannel experiences and online purchases have become hygiene factors today. With consumers demanding a holistic experience online, the virtually intensive jewellery retail scene has become competitive in a short period. The session started with the goal to trace this pattern with clarity for future.

STYLEDOTME changed the face of jewellery retail with their cross-platform augmented reality technology MirrAR much before pandemic struck. Talking about how STYLEDOTME is experiencing change in client behavior post-pandemic, “Pre-Covid, 4K-5K customers were trying on jewellery virtually. Post-Covid, the number rose to 80K-90K try-ons. With people looking for exclusive services from home, the trade realized the need to re-strategize their e-commerce,” she said, adding that this mindset shift has  helped the brand onboard 100-plus clients post- Covid. That jump, explained Saraogi, had to happen with manifold increase in traffic on the platforms of each of her clients. With more people trying on jewellery virtually than ever before, the shift to digital was necessitated by pandemic, maintained Meghna Saraogi, Founder & CEO, STYLEDOTME. Be it a one-man shop or a 100-store conglomerate, any brand today can track the journey of a consumer active online across various stages of sales through usage of online tools that are not price-prohibitory, suggested Niranjan Sridharan Business Head, Simplify360, which supports premium brands such as Anita Dongre and Audi in automobile space. With consumers interacting with brands on WhatsApp, mail and on social media, it is easy for the brand to chart the demand of customers of varying spending ability and cater to them accordingly. “With integrated digital tools, a brand can link omnichannel communication, differentiate between regular customers and first-timers based on product life cycle value into cohorts and redirect product promotions,” said Sridharan.

When asked how can a retailer use data to target different consumer funnels successfully, Sridharan talked about unifying a customer image and respond to queries with a select range of product or solutions. “Through such integration, one can handle red flags raised either via mail, social media or WhatsApp, and attend successfully. By doing so, one can also point out customers of high life cycle value and give preferential treatments with new or remarketed products with discounts,” he said.

Having made e-com solutions for Candere and now Joyalukkas, Codilar Technologies is a leading technology company that has built an e-com enterprise called Haiza ( on Magento) that can be used by any jeweller. While creating impressive digital workflows, Codilar, maintained Rahuel Stone, Head Sales & Growth, Codilar Technologies, had decided to keep the platform’s dashboard standardized and simplified for faster, easier execution by the jeweller. “Almost 80% of the digital journey of any jewellery retail brand is the same. So, we at Codilar decided to democratize the tech for easy application, while leaving the rest of process for customization as desired by individual client,” said Rahuel. This makes Codilar a one-stop integrated solution. The consumer has moved online and expect a great, personalized digital journey. This puts every jewellery brand putting the big buck on digital resources to provide unique experiences with seamless workflow. Rahuel also shared Codilar’s plans to integrate different services such as that of STYLEDOTME, Simplify360, and Stylumia, thus making mandatory digital shift for jewellery retail user-friendly.

Ganesh Subramanian, Founder & CEO, STYLUMIA is the outcome of his experience in some of the biggest names in fashion industry such as Myntra. This software as service (SaS) company helps project consumer demand across stores down to the SKU level, product planning, investment optimisation and trend forecast through AI interfaces.  Introducing the audience to Stylumia’s strategy of developing direct-to-consumer business, Subramaniam said, “With trends changing faster than ever, Stylumia’s AI-driven interfaces help conduct intricate trend surveys faster, forecast product demands and is also helping accelerate the process of designing through AI.”

It’s crucial to find the needle in the haystack of trends suggested by surveys, and Stylumia’s research tools help spot winning trends and attributes for any product in any territory, thus reducing risk associated with planning large scale demand, mentioned Subramaniam. Another service is the AI-based demand prediction tool that uses product images and transaction history of the said brand to predict how many SKUs of the product is needed in each sales channel. 

On demand forecast, Subramaniam delineated Stylumia’s thorough categorization ranging from trend, category, sub-category, price point to item or design level results for any product. Moving a step ahead, Subramaniam also stated that Stylumia is conducting a pilot run of an AI-driven design generation interface that creates the basic design structure for any product, thus augmenting designers to customize better and faster through their aesthetics.

The panelists agreed on the tremendous opportunity of using online tools to make cohorts and funnels of target audience to target tech-savvy audience more accurately than ever. Saraogi opined that social media has worked wonders for clients using MirrAR. “This is because getting to try on a latest collection from a favourite jewellery brand online is addictive. Customers take images, share on their handles and increase product enquiry, footfall and ultimately sales without getting into the website at first,” she said.

The necessary way ahead for jewellers is to understand the consumer well and take the digital plunge fearlessly. Regarding digital journey becoming a tedious task for retail-friendly thinktanks, Rahuel urged the audience to adapt to the tried and tested techniques of digital platforms instead of trying to improvise. But to get in the vast arena of digital commerce, the trick they should use, as Subramaniam mentioned, is to remove IT jargons, take interest to understand the importance of data in digital world personally, and use resources better to hire the perfect agency for a brand.

Courtesy: Retail Jeweller India News