Introduced a new category for customers: Pranav Gupta, Goverdhanram Ramashish Pd and Co

A fourth-generation jeweller, Pranav Gupta, sales head, Goverdhanram Ramashish Pd and Co, Muzaffarpur, got involved in the family business after completing school. During his graduation days, Pranav would visit the showroom every day whenever he was in town, to assist in the business and learn about the concepts of retail jewellery. After graduating in business management, he joined the family business and decided to make some important changes. However, the biggest change Pranav brought about was the introduction of diamond jewellery at their showroom.

Trigger

Since inception, we were only dealing in gold jewellery and our brand image in the customer’s mind only encompassed gold. Gold is the biggest pillar of the jewellery industry to this day and has been demanded for equally by the elite clientele and the mass consumers alike. However, sticking to one category posed hindrances in our brand positioning as a modern jeweller. Diversification and expertise in other categories became absolutely necessary to revamp our identity.

Although we have a loyal customer base that has been purchasing from us for a long time, we needed to become more modern, looking at the new generation. When I was graduating, I observed that the demand for diamond jewellery was almost negligible when compared with gold jewellery in a tier-2/tier-3 city. The inventory was, as a result, almost 100% gold. I then decided to introduce the latest, lightweight diamond jewellery designs in the range of Rs 20,000-25,000, and also instructed the staff to focus on diamond jewellery. We introduced them to customers looking to buy rings, earrings or pendants in gold. Once the customers knew that we have a good collection in diamond jewellery, they started coming in bigger numbers. Currently, 15-20% of our existing inventory is diamond jewellery.

Implementation

As we sold only gold jewellery, the staff was only trained in that category. The lack of knowledge in diamond jewellery was the biggest hindrance, so we trained the staff first. Initially, we trained 3-4 members who were to introduce diamond as a category to the customers. In the meantime, the rest were staff also trained. Today, almost 90% of our staff are trained in diamonds.

Result

We have received a tremendous response from the customers. Most have just come up to see what diamond jewellery looks like. The diamond sales have increased by 15-20% in the last year. We have also seen an increase in millennial footfall, which went up by 35-40% in the last year.

Courtesy: Retail Jeweller India News