‘We are looking to buy diamond bridal jewellery and also light weight jewellery at IIJS Virtual. We saw some 14k and 18k experiments with new technology and we will be looking at these innovations as well.”

Dipu Mehta of Orra feels that the pent-up demand from the previous months, coupled with the festive and wedding seasons will spell a fortune shower for the industry

What are your thoughts on the IIJS Virtual?

I think it’s a very good initiative. Virtual makes a lot of sense. In the last couple of months, we have changed the way we have been working in many ways, and now that technology has enabled this to happen, I am very pleased that it will instill a lot of confidence into the industry. 

What product categories will your team be looking at during IIJS?

We will look at bridal jewellery designs and the new techniques that have materialized in the design front. We always look at polki and diamond jewellery. Lots of people are experimenting with 18K and 14K, so we are looking at all of that in the ring, earring and pendant section. 

What are your views on the sales of the next 6 months? What would be your advice to the fellow retailers?

The next 6 months should be good as we have seen a lot of pent up demand. There has been a lot of traction on the digital front. In stores, we are catching up to our pre-Covid sales every month. So, we are quite confident that the Indian consumer is still looking to buy jewellery and celebrate the upcoming festive season and marriages. Eventually, people will have to buy because they have not bought in the past 6 months, so, I think it’s going to be a great season. We have been working very closely with our manufacturing partners and trying to understand the trends to get a better idea about where the Indian consumers are heading to. If we work closely with the industry as partners, we will get through this in a positive manner.

Courtesy: Retail Jeweller India News Service.