Retail and Success Mantras @ Retail Jeweller India Forum 2016!!!

Soma Bhatta, Editor in Chief, Retail Jeweller India

Mark Gershburg, CEO, GSI: The American Standard

Francis Bacon quoted, “Knowledge is power” and I so second that. A day before the India International Jewellery Show (IIJS Signature 2016) kicked in, GSI (Gemological Science International) presented Retail Jeweller India Forum 2016 at Hotel Westin, Mumbai on 4th February for a day. With the first session beginning at 9.30 am our brains were not only stormed but totally blown away by late evening with a bank of knowledge shared by eminent panelist, moderators from the jewelry industry. What made the forum more interesting was the initiative taken by the duo Samit Bhatta (Director and Associate Publisher) and Soma Bhatta (Editor in Chief) of Retail Jeweller India, Retail Jeweller India Forum to curate a designer jewellery pop up where budding, established designers and jewellers could showcase their creativity.

Constant Contact: The New Marketing Reality

Anita Kotwani

Anita Kotwani, Leader, Client Leadership, Mindshare west spoke on digital marketing being a major disruptor in the last few decades. Traditional tools that were hitherto effective may no longer be so. It is then time to rethink the value of traditional media tools and find the right media mix for your business in the digital age.

Build Your Business With Google

Debraj Gupta

Debraj Gupta, Manager, New Business Sales, Google gave various examples on how one could build their business with Google. Highlights Debraj, “Acquiring the customer is a tough task, losing the customer with a bad experience is equally easy.” According to Gupta, building trust and credibility is of utmost importance for a ‘High Value’ segment like jewelry in the ecommerce space. In a highly competitive environment one has to ensure delightful customer service, quality and authentic products. He further commented, “The retail industry is going to double by 2020 to a staggering figure of $1100 Bn. This will primarily be fueled by urbanization, higher income levels and e-commerce which is expected to grow roughly 400% by 2020.”

India’s Luxury Decade : Understanding The Nouveau Indian Luxury Customer And Capturing The Luxury Rupee

Gaurav Bhatia

Now that’s a subject and session I totally love! Not because it speaks luxury but because we share similar thoughts and believe in the art of product storytelling, creating an experience for the customer and great packaging. Mind you it’s sleek and beautiful packaging, not necessary expensive packaging! Gaurav Bhatia, Founder and CEO, Gaurav Bhatia – A Luxury Advisory Cell beautifully articulated on how jewelry is a piece of art, but how many of us are able to sell it as art in India ? When an Indian walks into a store in Paris he wouldn’t question a $1000 shoe but the customer will ask for a detailed diamond, gold, labor break up for jewelry in a store in India. Have you wondered why? Among his various examples on Hermes, LV, BMW, Picasso the one which made a mark according to me is Marc Jacobs creating an apparel line for Louis Vuitton with handwoven Banarasi fabric and Priyanka Chopra endorsing it on a Vogue cover page. It truly brings out the essence of Narendra Modi’s “Make in India” concept. In India, Nirav Modi is an epitome of luxury. In the space of bags, HiDesign has created a beautiful story.
What i liked about Gaurav’s session is he mentioning to maintain respect with colleagues, juniors or staff without discrimination. When we walk into a branded international store, we may just see a shoe maker sewing the shoe or an artisan crafting a piece of art which we will proudly watch but how many treat their karigar in the same way in a jewellery store here?

Business Mantras For Higher Profitability

A. Shivaram

A Shivaram, Founder, Retail Gurukul explained the importance for the traditional jeweller to change as per times. The consumer’s have rapidly changed over the years, has the industry changed? One must set realistic targets for the sales team and incentivise them to motivate and drive them to achieve the sales targets. “Until the consumer has bought, nobody has sold.” it’s so true! An example from the Ted talk opened our eyes. Do you know how many choices we make in a typical day ? You will be surprised to know, do watch this link – How to make choosing easier

How many jewellers make a list when they want to replenish stock for their store ? Another e.g. of a medical store, the medical shop keeper makes a note in his diary first of the medicine / replenish stock for the next day each time he is selling or hands over the medicine to the patient or customer or makes a sale. That’s the level of efficiency they have. Likewise 12th December i.e. Retail Employee Day is celebrated and promoted by Shoppers Stop for their employees.

And now for some power packed sessions with a fleet of panelist,

Funding for Expansion

(L-R) Sanjeev Agarwal, B. Madhuprasad, Jyoti Sharan, D.R. Dogra, V. Balasubramanian

Moderated by Sanjeev Agarwal, CEO, Gitanjali the session along with following panelist educated us on the changing financial paradigms in this new economic era, jewellers can avail of multiple funding options.
B. Madhuprasad, Chairman, Keynote Indiaa; mentioned that companies in India have to upgrade to a level where they are organised.
Jyoti Sharan, GM, MCRO II, SBI-Mumbai highlighted that SBI is the largest lender to the gems and jewelry industry. They have gold schemes which are consumer friendly.
D.R. Dogra, MD & CEO, Credit Analysis & Research says he tries to bring investors and borrowers together. We rate not only Ltd co but also rate PVT company and proprietor company.
V. Balasubramaniam,Chief Business Officer, Bse India says “Every entrepreneur dreams to ring the bell at the stock exchange.”

Trends in Omni-channel Retailing

(L-R) Vijay Jain, Vipin Nair, Govind Shrikhande, Kapil Hetamsaria, Nitin Jain, Sanjay Banerje

Moderated by Vijay Jain, CEO, Orra the session along with following panelist educated us on the various mediums of buying. Buying is no longer a one – dimensional process.
Nitin Jain, Head, wearyourshine says “Touching a single customer in multiple ways is an omni channel” A customer is touching the brand from multiple channels like store, social media, phone, kiosk etc and the idea is to give the same feeling of visiting the store at every medium.
Govind Shrikhande, MD, Shoppers Stop for them as much product matters, for building the customer trust matters the most. Digital has changed massively since it came, mobile is like the new “sautan”
Vipin Nair, AVP Offline Marketing, Caratlane feels that Jewelry is a touch and feel business. “Although we started online, we realised touch and feel is important so took that route. Trust is essential and having a physical presence for customers was important so the brick and motor system came in.”
Kapil Hetamsaria, C0-Founder, Velvetcase has created a marketplace for designer to showcase their jewelry. “Consumers wanted fresher designs, that’s when we realised that we as a part of the trade should bring in designer together and building it together.”
Sanjay Banerjee, Head, E-Commerce & Digital Marketing, PN Gadgil strongly feels “As much as we are all talking of technology etc but for a moment we should think of a family which has a strong bond and where a lifestyle product is being bought with the family consensus. Jewelry is sometimes more a consensus buying than individual decision. In this kind of a scenario we realise we are like a Pandora’s box providing everything in the store.”

What impressed me the most is the thought and placement of a translating device with headphones on every seat. It had an option of English and live translation in Hindi making it audible and understandable for every member attending the forum. A step further, so the designers and participants at the pop up show shouldn’t miss the forum, speakers were placed there too. How cool is that, isn’t it ?

While we shared enough gyan, await the story on creative masterpieces seen at the Retail Jeweller India Forum 2016 !

StylePrer asks,
Which of the above would be your favourite topic ? Do comment below for the topics we could add for the next forum.