Jewelry: A Luxury Or Commodity? Understanding Luxury Marketing

Gold as a crisis commodity. www.financialized.com
Often Jewelry designers raise a concern i.e. Jewelry designs are no longer being valued and its termed more a commodity. They have to give detailed bifurcations of gold, diamond and labour unlike a Luxury product. In my opinion, the definition of Luxury may be different for everybody. At a recent seminar by Womens Jewellery Association (WJA), Khyati Sindhwani, a graduate in Luxury Management from The International University of Monaco highlighted the key essentials for building a luxury brand and how one should not only build but also sell a great story.

Vintage Tiffany Sterling Silver Baby Spoon. PC- www.rubylane.com
Did you know- Tiffany’s highest selling product is a sterling silver spoon in their stores?
Adds, Nirupa Bhatt, Managing Director – GIA India and Middle East, “Its important for an individual to know their product and respect what they are selling. Unless they respect it, they wouldnt be able to convince their customer and command a price!

Ganjam craftsperson in heritageworkshop. www.thejewelleryeditor.com
What is Luxury? Luxury Product – Selling as an investment or selling the design?
To some luxury may be making an expensive purchase, to some it may be an unnecessary purchase while to some it could be having knowledge of a quality product and then making a purchase. According to Khyati Sidhwani, Luxury originates from being cultural. She feels Europeans understand luxury marketing well. Be it luggage, footwear, jewelry or apparels. They often use the term, “heritage” which states the company inception, its history and the journey of making it into a successful brand.
6 key words for Luxury
- High Price.
- Rarity / Exclusivity – In FMCG market it may be about pushing / selling as many units as possible. However in luxury time factor is considered. Exclusivity of a product is when one is made to wait for it. That’s when hey value the crafting of an exclusive or one of a kind product.
- Quality – Manufacturing hi-end timeless quality is essential. There cannot be a compromise on it.
- Heritage – It’s important for a brand to talk about their origination and history.
- Superfluous – India is rich in its culture and history. Selling lifestyle is an art, hence it’s important for a brand to build and market a story. Luxury is a desire; it’s not a need. Therefore it needn’t be sold like a commodity.
- Aesthetics – Along with good quality, also comes good looks. An appealing product can easily be sold.

Craftsman making Hermes horse saddle. www.foodmakesproplehappy.blogspot.com
Creating and Selling Luxury Brands
- Market Research – In depth research along with geographically locations are required to be known. i.e. which countries, cities or area they want to set themselves. e.g. Indian consumers are diversified withing the country in terms of states and cultures.
- Developing a striking brand concept – Its suggested to have an easy and engaging name. The name could be fictional, however building a story around is important. The idea is to sell the story and not just the product.
- Defining the core target group – It’s highly important, probably one of the most to know your target audience. Detailed knowledge of who you want your customer to be and who you want to do business with is essential.
- Making the brand identity visible – This is when you start marketing. Now is when your brand may be in the pre launch stage or can be launched.

Brands with staying power www.portero.com
It’s interesting, keep it up.
That’s Great
Great Keep it up Was an interesting subject to read on .