Virtual Bling: Indian Jewellery Online

In 2007 the launch of Flipkart, which was a huge success, showed that Indians are open to buying things online. The Bansals of Flipkart had paved the path for the booming Indian e-commerce market.  Among the needs of the Indian consumer, jewellery has an around $55 billion worth market. However, do Indians buy jewellery online? Here’s a look at Indian jewellery online.

Diamond and emarald necklace set

Diamond and Pearls necklace set

The Indian jewellery online market has both pros and cons to it. Looking at the cons, compared to the mammoth Indian jewellery market, which is one of the largest in the world, the online sales account for a very small percentage. This can be attributed to different factors, few of which are: 

• See, touch and feel: Jewellery is an item with very high average selling price. So consumers are vary about buying jewellery without getting a good look at the diamonds, the quality of craftsmanship and assurance about gold used. 

• Tradition: Most families have their trusted jeweller over generations, so for occasions like weddings, etc ., they would like to have a personal interaction with their trusted jeweller and get a unique custom experience.

• Customer Service: India lacks high standards of customer service (especially it stands true for some small businesses) and also due to the lack of high security standards online, customers are sometimes not willing to pay huge amounts online. However things are changing as far as security and customer service is concerned so in future maybe the trust factor online would be better. 

The Indian jewellery online market enjoys pros as well:

• Upward trend: Due to the burgeoning e-commerce in India people are becoming open to buying big ticket items online, especially if it comes from a trusted source. So when you hear Ratan Tata has invested in Bangalore based Blue stone and US hedge fund Tiger Global has put its money into Caratlane, it gives you an assurance about these online portals.

• Delivery system: With the success of deliveries from Flipkart and Amazon, people have started trusting sources which have a good delivery system set up. Many jewellers are also tying up with these online giants to ensure delivery success.

• Lower investment:  Online portals reduce the need of having a plush high end store in a good locale with optimum display. They can transfer these savings to have a higher number of varied collections of jewellery. Due to the low set –up cost we have seen an upward trend in lot of jewellery start-ups online.

• Technology: Using advanced computer technology today we have better display of jewellery online, showing the minutest detail, so the customers can order exactly what they want. 

• Better customer service: Caratlane was the first to come up with a try at home option for jewellery. The Indian jewellery online set-ups do not have to deal with high volume sales instead they enjoy higher returns on each item sold. So they can focus more into making each sale an amazing service experience, which will lead to consumers willing to spend more online.

The fashion imitation Indian jewellery online market has huge potential and people are very open to buying such jewellery online as they see minimal risk in terms of cost.

Experts have estimated the Indian jewellery online market to grow at a rate of 30%. The big Indian jewellery online players like Caratlane, Bluestone and Gitanjali are being very specific in their target audience. They are focusing on the working girl, who is open to buy jewellery online and prefers light accessories, she can carry to work. So most of the sales happen in the ‘affordable jewellery’ segment. The high value purchases for weddings still happen offline but with the younger generation being more savvy and open to the virtual bling, I do not think that day is far when buying an expensive Indian jewellery online is as simple as buying a T-shirt online.

Image Source: Strand of Silk