Good Business at IIJS 2009 As Indian Trade Focuses on Local Market

Thousands of buyers sought diamonds and jewelry, IIJS 2009

Buyers flocked from all over India, seeking loose diamonds and jewelry. Demand for diamonds covered a wide range of goods, from small one pointers to 2 carats in a variety of colors and clarities. South Indian buyers focused on smaller, VVS+ goods in D-F colors, while those from north India were less picky about clarities, focusing their purchases on the larger goods. In either case, all were very price-conscious. Square cuts, especially emerald cuts, were in high demand.

Exhibitors limited their transactions to cash or 30-60 day delayed payments for well-known and trusted customers. Cash payments were worth about a 5 percent discount.

Jewelry offerings were a wide range of traditional designs and modern twists on them, without any clear new design trend.

One new trend was a growing willingness of larger companies, mainly DTC Sightholders, to sell to small retailers, or dwellers as they are commonly referred to. The most common form of this willingness was in providing new services.

Venus Jewels and Kiran Exports are going beyond diamond matching – where similar goods are put together to create a cohesive-looking diamond item such as a bracelet – offering jewelers full-item layouts. According to Anil Shah, partner at Venus Jewels, clients were expressing interest in such a service. “A jeweler could wait months until he finds a match,” he said during a conversation at his booth, keeping an eye for any incoming traffic.

The industry as a whole, under the auspices of the GJEPC and jewelry retailers’ organization GJF, also turned their focus at expanding sales to its backyard market. It launched Anant, a generic marketing initiative aimed at driving consumer demand for diamond jewelry. Anant, which mean endless, will see its first ads appear in late September or early October. According to GJEPC Chairman Mehta, the immediate goal is to increase demand for diamond jewelry by Indian consumers by 20 percent in the first year.

Another direction the Indian industry is considering is going online. Testimonies to that are not just the sites bigger companies have uploaded that include extensive listings of goods, but the great interest in the E-Selling seminar.

In the standing-room-only session, the seminar discussed how companies could create a successful online selling presence. According to panelist Anil Shah, companies should be aware that they would need to invest resources and time to maintain their site over its lifetime.

It will not end there, if a company wants to create a successful presence, “you need to offer a quality product,” Shah told the large audience,” and create a satisfied consumer who will in turn recommend you to others.” Shah noted that providing full and transparent details about your product is a key element of achieving that goal.