The Jewellery Industry has been facing challenges for the past several years due to Sales Tax issue, Demonetisation, GST, Price Increase and evolving Market & Customer Practices. To overcome these challenges, jewellers have only focused on Discounts, Sale, Volumes which led to Unhealthy Competition and thin margins which has made businesses unviable and unsustainable operationally. The COVID lockdown will take jewellers 2 years behind but this has given the time to prepare ourselves for next 10 years which will require huge changes in the way we operate our businesses.

Technology Adoption

The adoption of technology is not a choice anymore, to survive & thrive every jeweller will have to take this giant leap as customers at all levels are mobile savvy and several industries are engaging & pulling them with their unique offerings which takes away their liquidity which they could have used for buying or investing in jewellery. Technology is not just used for managing business processes like accounting, ERP, CRM etc. But today, it provides you with intelligent data like which of your customers is interested in which designs, what is their budget, when they are thinking of buying anything, when they have liquidity to buy and many tools which helps companies to automatically find customers who want to or can buy. Automation & Technology will enable jewellers to compete with big brands without spending a huge amount.

Customer Segmentation & Engagement

Like Technology, More than 90% of Indian Jewellers are not ready with their Customer Segmentation & Engagement Strategy. Mostly Jewellers are only focused on Wedding Customers & Discounts, Sales for their overall business promotions. Segmentation is the one of the most important aspects which helps you to identify customers you have to focus on and how to engage with them. If Jewellers have to focus only on weddings they have to disintegrate that by focusing on Bride, Groom, Parents, Siblings, Relatives & Friends. All these people attend a wedding, are you focusing on them? Similarly, you can plan occasion-wise, age-wise, gifting and other jewellery buying options for customers and plan how to engage them and boost your sales.

Content

One of the reasons why jewellery industry is shrinking, as it doesn’t focus on content marketing. The biggest competitors for jewellers is travel, fashion and finance industry. Inspite of having most dependable asset in the world and product with the highest ROI, Our industry is failing to convince customers to invest in jewellery then a bag, travel package or mutual funds. Every jeweller will have to focus on content on basis of its customer segmentation and engagement strategies if they want to build customer loyalty towards their brand.

Designing & Personalisation

Everyone agrees that design is the most important factor for repeat purchases and customer retention. But it becomes more crucial with evolving customers due to exposure of designs they get through the internet, TV, newspapers and much from social media. With designing jewellers will have to focus on personalisation too with the help of technology, to decide which customers would like what type of designs. Today’s customers want the jewellery piece to symbolise a story and make a statement of their personality.

Making Employee’s Digital Ambassadors

Employee’s are our backbone to succeed, but we don’t make them empowered. Jewellers will have to train their employees how to engage customers digitally on WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, telegram, LinkedIn, twitter, Live Videos etc. With the increase in online browsing, most of our customers spend 5-8 hours everyday on mobile. Are you engaging them during these times? Your savvy employees can make you win customers in their homes and offices.

Smart Inventory Management

Jewellers can’t keep on inventory as it used to due to changing customer preferences and operational challenges. So everyone will have to plan as per their customers data and forecast on inventories to keep ready, In-design, To ask for approval from suppliers and To personalise as per customers requirements. Use of technology can enable you to diversify your customers and segment their requirements with the help of Data Analysis and Forecast.

Many Jewellers often think whether online sales is possible? It’s possible only if you build Quality, Service,Trust & Convenience as your Integral Offering. You will have to use all technology tools to engage customers regularly, which will enable them to sell anyone, anywhere.

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Editorial by:

Karan Jagani is Director at Tanika Tech Jewels Pvt Ltd, Mumbai Researching and building technology products since 2016 to empower & enable jewellery industry towards Jewelry 4.0 – Next Stage of Disruption in the Industry.