When technology adds a new shine to the business

Read here to find out how a third generation jeweller, Sumit Khindri, owner of Amritsar-based SK Jewellers decided to harness latest technology for his company and how it has benefitted him.

–Manoj Chakraborty

While most traditional jewellers have a keen eye for all that glitters, very few look into technology to give their business an edge over others. As a third-generation jeweller, Sumit Khindri, owner of Amritsar-based SK Jewellers knew from when he was a child that he would join the family-run jewellery business eventually. He signed up for a course in the Gemmological Institute of America (GIA) in Mumbai to fine tune his hands-on learning and understand the industry better before joining the family business. As a youngster he always kept himself abreast of the latest technological developments and had a good knowledge of computers – something he decided to harness for his company.

Moving away from manual mode

When I joined the business I realised that we desperately need a kind of system which stores all the information collected from the customer in one place and it also needs to be easily accessible. Earlier, we would maintain a copy where we would fill out all the information related to the customers by hand. There was a chance of human error while entering the details of the customer.

We faced problems when it came to the payment mode as we were expected to maintain all the copies of the stock inventory, which was quite a difficult task. I was looking for some kind of technology which would help fill out customer details more efficiently. I found the solution in IIJS 2016 where I got to meet a Gujarat-based service provider who offers IT solutions to retailers. Their system keeps details of customers, and inventories, and can be accessed anywhere, anytime. I introduced this inventory management system in the last half of 2017. We have also been able to identify loyal and repeat customers and offer them loyalty points, thanks to the software.

Execution

It took around three months to completely install the software system at the store.  Initially, the employees were a little hesitant as they thought it would be tough to handle. But eventually they managed to overcome their fears and started learning the workings of the system. They underwent an online training course and over a span of just a few days, they learnt the whole system. The key point of the software is that it is very user-friendly.

Result

The inventory management software has greatly helped me run the business more efficiently. We now have a proper database of our customers with us. The software also reduces the risk of human error.

Another advantage this system offered us was that now became easy to go through the consumer details and study the consumer buying trends and patterns. This in turn helps me make an assumption of customers’ likes and dislikes. With the improvement of inventory management, we know what kind of jewellery to stock, based on the buying seasons.