Why are Jewellery Retailers Taking Up Digital Channels to Boost Sales?

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way businesses function and grow. Every sector is re-imagining and adapting their methods to overcome challenges. Jewellery retailers/ brands are no exception. 

Jewellery retailers and brands have re-evaluated their current brick-and-mortar business model and have now started implementing omnichannel approach with an enhanced digital strategy to boost sales. After relevant research, trials and keeping in mind the changing consumer buying behaviour pattern, the jewellery retailers and brands have discovered that the best strategy to reach out to the customers is the online retail adoption, which has also led to satisfactory sales results over the past couple of months. Going digital has also, enabled the industry to further personalize the customer experience at every touchpoint. Consumers are finding purchase through digital channels more convenient, safe and feasible for them. 

However, there is also a growing need of maintaining relationship with the existing customers, this is more important for renowned and legacy brands even while improving the end-to-end jewellery purchase experience. The good news is that enabling e-commerce has not cannibalized offline sales but instead has brought in new customers. 
 
Online Purchase Behaviour: Millennials Changing the Jewellery Game
 
Apart from the business aspect of things, jewellery buying has also undergone a huge change. Millennials are reshaping and redefining some of the traditions and norms around this behaviour. At a time when gold prices are high, people, especially the millennials are moving to the lighter and minimalist variant of the yellow metal. They are prefering these light weight jewellery more because these kinds can be worn anywhere with utmost comfort. Today, India’s millennials are changing the way the gold-crazy country buys jewellery. So in the coming years, all that glitters will be light-weight gold.

It has been seen that the age group of 18 to 45 years account for approximately 70-80 percent of online sales, while those over 45 years account for 20-30 percent. That’s why retailers have shifted their focus and are now targeting young, independent working men and women. These days, jewellery is purchased online for daily wear, during festivals or for gifting purposes. The endless choices which online shopping gives are something that buyer look forward to today. Also, during the festive season, there has been a surge in the sales of gold coins, bars and GIP as well. 
 
Innovation is the Key
 
The online experience brings with it an element of ease. It is much more convenient to be able to browse and buy online, without having to step into a store and enquire about pricing every time there’s interest in a jewellery piece. We, along with many other brands, have started taking bookings for both jewellery and appointments via video call. 

Imagine the convenience of buying your wedding or daily wear jewellery from the comfort of your home - all through a video call. You could select your preferred design and get the sales executive at the store to display it to you virtually. After that, you could choose to close the deal at home, take an appointment to visit the store and try out the jewellery, or even place the order and pay. This strategy has grown in the COVID era as consumers are increasingly opting for online shopping due to safety concerns. Along with the assurance of safety and hygiene, it also gives consumers a sense of freedom to browse and take their time. 
 
Digital Upgradation 
 
The silver lining of this pandemic for the gold jewellery industry is that, it has given brands enough time to think and motivate ourselves. We have been preparing ourselves for a digital and mobile-first world for some time now. The best thing about the online shopping space is that it can be modified relatively easily and every modification helps improve the user experience and increase loyalty. Facilities like online customisation help hugely in maximizing sales numbers. In fact, online retailers have an advantage over more-established retailers since younger customers are already comfortable shopping with them. The idea is that they gradually gain confidence from buying clothes and bags and then move on to spending even larger sums with the same retailer which is called an ‘upgrade' purchase. 
 
Keeping the trends, shift in consumer behaviour, preferences, and digital evolution in mind, Khimji Jewels have also launched Pan-India presence through an ecommerce platform. With specially designed pure gold jewellery collection across prices and variety in metal colours, we have built our foundation in the evolving digital retail sector.