Retailer Restocking to Drive IIJS Signature

Opening Day at IIJS Signature

(IDEX Online News) – The IIJS Signature show opened today (Friday) in Mumbai, India. Although many of the nearly 1,100 booths saw slow business and few visitors, some exhibitors were already expressing satisfaction at the show’s first day.

While the August IIJS show is much busier and sees many more visitors than the 10,000 or so estimated to arrive at Signature, exhibitors see this show as a good opportunity to sit down with their clients and to spend extended amounts of time with them.  

“There are quality buyers here,” said Nirav Bhansali, director of Prism Enterprises. “We can spend three or even four hours with them. It’s a good PR opportunity for us.”

Bhansali said his booth had been busy almost since the doors opened. The reason for the good business, he explained, was retailer replenishment, which has been taking place over the past couple of months. While stores were not necessarily buying for the entire season, they were stocking up with enough goods to see them through to the end of the wedding season in March.

Ashish Mehta of Kantilal Chhotalal agreed that January and February had been unusually good months, with local purchasing continuing even after overseas buyers had finished fulfilling their orders for the holiday season.

Part of the reason for the upsurge in business, said Mehta, was owing to poor sales last spring. The drop in purchases followed a series of retail strikes in India and was compounded by the rupee depreciating against the dollar and a fall in the stock market. The reluctance to buy last year means that retailer inventory has been exhausted and they are now buying slowly to increase their stock once again.

At a press conference marking the show’s opening, the Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) announced that plans were in place to develop a generic consumer advertising campaign for diamonds, something that the industry has been missing since De Beers stopped running its, “A Diamond is Forever” campaign.

Although he did not reveal too many details, Sanjay Kothari said that the GJEPC has developed a marketing plan that it hopes to being implementing in three to four months. The consumer marketing program will initially be run out in India, but Kothari said that the GJEPC might eventually look to extend it to China.

Rita Menon, chair and managing director of the India Trade Promotion Organization (ITPO), the guest of honor at the show, said that there was a great need for branding in India for all products and that the government would support the GJEPC’s generic branding campaign.

Menon also said that the ITPO organizes some 36 overseas shows a year and that the organization would be willing to partner with the GJEPC in promoting the Indian gem and jewelry industry abroad.  

IIJS Signature runs until Monday February, 25.