We started with just one door at a store in Hyderabad, today most of our retail spaces carry De Beers Forevermark jewellery

Suraj Shantakumar, owner of Kirtilal’s, has been a De Beers Forevermark patron for the longest time now. So much so, that he is about to open a shop within his shop for De Beers Forevermark diamonds. He talks to Samit Bhatta, publisher, The Retail Jewellers India magazine, about his expectations from the upcoming De Beers Forevermark forum.

You have been a partner with De Beers for some time now. How has the Forevermark diamonds and the Code of Origin programme performed?

The journey with De Beers Forevermark has been an exciting one, I must say. There has been a lot of mutual growth. While we started with just one door at a store in Hyderabad, today most of our retail spaces carry Forevermark jewellery. We also have a standalone boutique in Hyderabad for Forevermark. Over the years, we have really enjoyed the relationship with them, especially because of the wonderful Forevermark team.

Do you see a perceptible difference between Forevermark diamonds and other diamonds in the industry? Is there anything that you can tell us from the market growth perspective in India and especially in the south?

Over the years, quality has bene our mantra. We have been very focused on having the right quality of diamonds. The story of Forevermark diamonds and how it can be traced to the source is something that we have been advocating to all our patrons. This has added a lot of value and given a lot of confidence and perspective to the customer. They know they can buy the diamond and know what the quality and the traceability of the diamond. Diamonds are seeing 30% annualised growth in our region, easily as we open more doors and work on new offerings. Now, we are working on a couple of new initiatives with De Beers. In Hyderabad, we are scaling up our presence with Forevermark at our existing stores. We will have a dedicated floor space for Forevermark there. It will be an evolution from just a brand corner to a shop-in-shup experience, about half the retail space on the ground floor of one of our shops.

De Beers Forevermark is celebrating 75 years of its iconic line, “A Diamond is forever.” What are your expectations from the forum this year?

We look forward to the Forevermark Forum every year as it is great to connect with all the stakeholders. The forum gives a pulse into the kind of current happenings and what are the trends that we look forward to. We are eager to participate as always, for the hospitality of the De Beers team. Seventy-five years is a great number and I congratulate the team on achieving it. However, Iwant to see them reach a century.   

Courtesy: Retail Jeweller India News