In an industry that has always chased women, probably the time has come to take an unconventional route and shift to an important segment of the buyer pool - men, writes Payal Gulati
Jewellery stores have long been considered the domain of women, but this is no longer true. While women remain the dominant buyer of jewellery, men are quickly catching up.
Vijay Jain, CEO & Director, Orra, says: “Gender-led purchases would be occasion driven. For big family functions, we do see more footfalls from women. However, for occasions like anniversaries and birthdays, we see more men walking in.” The brand sees around 60 per cent of purchases for solitaires being made by men.
Echoing similar views, Hardik Kapoor, Founder & Director, Jewelsify. com, says: “Earlier, it was believed that jewellery is limited to women but not anymore. Over the past few years, Indian men have developed a fascination for jewellery. At Jewelsify.com, we offer a fairly wide men’s collection, which includes cufflinks, ear studs, tie pins, pendants, etc.”
This has proven to be a huge advantage for the Indian jewellery market, which is worth about Rs 3,00,000 crore and is expected to touch close to Rs 5,30,000 crore by 2018, according to a Ficci AT-Kearney study.
What’s trending?
The industry is slowly moving away from ‘one size fits all’ ready-to-wear jewellery to more customized pieces. “In India, customized jewellery is a niche market and is showing significant growth year-on-year and would likely to take precedence in the near future,” believes Sunayana Vora, VP- Sales & Country Head, Tara Jewels.
Jain of Orra shares, “Traditionally, the industry has been biased towards gold with 85 per cent consumers preferring it and the remaining 15 per cent preferring diamond and platinum. Currently, the growth rate of diamond and platinum, however, is twice that of gold. Silver jewellery is perceived more as fashion rather than precious jewellery.” Besides, there is a shift from heavy gold jewellery to light and contemporary wearable jewellery.
Despite the emergence of new target audience and evolving trends, one thing still remains common – customer engagement and experience. “Modern jewellery retailing is all about providing customers with shopping experience with a world-class retail ambience, personal interaction and quality products,” concludes Sandeep Kulhalli, Senior Vice President-Retail and Marketing, Jewellery Division, Titan Company.
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