Zen Diamond to Reach 100 Stores in Next 5 Years, Eyes Expansion in Southeast Asia

Zen Diamond is an international jewelry brand with over 450 stores worldwide across 22 countries. The brand started its journey from Istanbul in the year 2000, and has since then expanded to Turkey, Europe, US, and the Middle East.

Brand’s Footprint in India

The brand entered India in 2024, with a first flagship store at Turner Road,Bandra. Currently there are eight stores across five cities-Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chandigarh and Jaipur. Most of the stores are in shopping malls, or high street locations in these regions.

‘‘We have four more stores in the pipeline by the end of the year. There will be  two more in Mumbai and  a store coming up in Calcutta and in Pune,’’ says Neil Sonawala, Managing Director, Zen Diamond.

The brand has its main manufacturing facility in Istanbul and the second one is in Mumbai. All jewelry in India are made-in-India., however their designs are conceptualized in Europe.

Brand’s Portfolio

Zen Diamond deals in lightweight modern jewelry. Contemporary jewelry is more of a classic, and is wearable for any occasion. Zen Diamond specializes in everyday wear, evening wear and gifting jewelry.  

Talking about the brand’s portfolio, Neil said, ‘‘So, everyday wear luxury is the most sought after purchase now. What we've realized is post-COVID, consumer lifestyles have changed. Consumers want to wear and flaunt rather than to just store the piece of jewelry. So naturally, when you wear something every day, it's going to move into a light weight model.’’

Zen Diamond also sells accessories across its stores such as watches, perfume, ties, pens, pocket,  and mahjong sets. The brand sells other things also which go very well with this diamond jewelry purchase for the consumer.

How Zen Diamonds Jewelries Conceptualized in Europe and Made-in-India

Discussing the jewelry designs, Neil shares, ‘‘The designs are conceptualized in Europe. They are then soft transferred through a CAD (computer aided design) file. We get the design from the CAD file and then pull out the molds in India.’’

He adds that  the CAD file is basically the skeleton of your jewelry piece which are received via a digital transfer. And then based on that, Zen Diamonds are able to cut the mold out and manufacture the products in India.
 

‘‘While the others do this entire process in India, we being a  global brand, naturally conceptualize the designs outside India, bringing the global trends to the country,’’ says Neil. ‘‘We also export  jewelry to some of our other countries. Our quality is the same anywhere in the world,’’ says Neil.

Bringing Global Trends to India

‘‘We follow global trends. So we see what's happening in all the leading markets, especially in West Europe, and America, and then draft a strategy to get those concepts in India. We also make the designs cost effective by making it in India,’’ says Neil.

Jewelry Trend in India and Zen Diamonds’s Unique Proposition

Discussing the jewelry trend in India, Neil shares that large diamond force retailers are focusing on everyday wear, modern jewelry, shares Neil.  There is a growth in 9-carat, 14-carat, 18-carat diamond studded jewelry. He says, ‘‘You either have a brand like Swarovski, which is selling crystals and lab-grown diamond jewelry, and then you have Tiffany and Cartier, which is right on the top of the pyramid.

‘‘Zen Diamond speciality lies in its design sensibilities. We have access to some of the best jewelry designers in the world,  being in sync with global trends, says Neil. ‘‘However, we make our jewelry  in India, providing a great in-store experience and creating value for the Indian customer, as India is a price-sensitive market.’’

A combination of all of this (the brand’s European design, and its product development in India, making it cost -effective) makes the brand apart from the local competition.

Franchising Ecosystem

Zen Diamond has  30% franchise owned stores across the world, but currently does not have a franchise model in India. However, Neil says that the brand is actively looking at the right partners to scale up their business.

‘‘Franchise is a very good way to expand your network because the jewelry industry is highly capital intensive,’’ says Neil. ‘‘It requires a large amount of money to start a store, whereas the operating cost is quite low in franchising as compared.’’

He further says, ‘‘At our stores, we would be looking at a mix of franchise owned, company operated, and company owned, company operated models. In franchising, we will go with the FOCO model because we don't want the service level, the experience level to drop. In this model, the large capex will be taken care by the franchisee while the operating expenditure will be borne by the brand, including rent, salaries, and the miscellaneous expenses.

Franchising in Zen Diamond

The brand has three models in the franchise. We have a small format store typically around 450 square feet (below 500 sq. feet).  Then the medium which would range between 500 to 800  sq. feet, and the large retail format which would be from 800 to 1200 sq. feet.

So the small franchise would cost INR 8 crore, the medium one would be somewhere around INR 12 crore, and the biggest one would be in the range of INR 15 crore. That is the kind of investment they are looking at.

There would be a  minimum guarantee, and as time goes, the brand will be interested in the revenue share. The brand would support the franchise partner in terms of credit on the inventory, marketing activities and training staff members. We will also provide  ERP and back office support for seamless store operation.

Celebrity Collaboration

Last year, Zen Diamond collaborated with  Jennifer Lopez, who became the global ambassador of the brand.

Talking about this collaboration, Neil said, ‘‘Bringing Jennifer Lopez, who's a global icon, to become the brand ambassador of the brand was not an easy task. But she was on a tour in West Asia,  she visited our store  and was impressed with the brand offerings,  its designs and readily  agreed to self-associate with us.’’

He adds, ‘‘It gave  a major push to the brand  because the  customers who come to our stores understand the defining factor (our designs), and their confidence level grow after the collaboration. We are very lucky to have somebody like her as our brand ambassador across the globe.’’

Further discussing the role of celebrity collaboration in brand’s growth, Neil shares that it gives a face to the brand. People recognize and recall the brand. There are some connections that you are able to make with the customers giving them the comfort level and the aspirations to build up.  

Brand’s Omnichannel Strategy

‘‘I think  there is no other way to run your show if you are not omnichannel,’’ says Neil.    We have our own website, and also sell on platforms like Amazon, Myntra, apart from our retail stores. Soon we are signing up for other channel partners as well.  

Omnichannel helps brands to engage with the customers, building up their aspiration and led to the store purchase.

‘‘Because we are natural diamond jewelry. So obviously the value is on the higher side. So people like to come to the store to make purchases,’’ says Neil.

Festive Season

Talking about the festive collections, Neil shares, ‘‘We have two big seasons in the year. It is Akshaya Tritya,and  Dhanteras. So we always have new collection launches during that time. We also have a best offers at that time. For example, in this Dhanteras, we are offering 1.5 grams of 24 karat gold free with every one lakh of purchase. We also have great bank offers.  We have Insta Own where people can buy jewelry at zero cost EMI,  zero down payment,and zero processing charges. So, we have multiple offers combined with new collection launches.’’

Jewelry as an Asset

Neil further shares that there's a very clear differentiation between natural and lab-grown jewelry.  Since Zen Diamond is on one side of the fence, that is natural diamond jewelry, the customers are very aspirational. They want to buy natural diamonds as they believe in the value that they're getting from the brand.  They believe in the next two, three, five years, the value of the product will go up. This is backed by trade exchange and buyback policies which the brand offers.

‘‘So I think consumers are looking at a jewelry purchase which holds value for life. But they also want it at a  good price point. And when they come back with it, they also want to be confident that they are going to get in a buyback or 100 % exchange. And we offer 100 % exchange for upgrades,’’ says Neil.

Future Plan

Looking ahead,  the brand plans to reach 100 stores in the next 5 years and  want to be present in the best shopping malls of the country.

‘‘We've identified many of them, but they're also running at full capacity.  So we will get them when the time is right,’ says Neil. ‘‘We've also recently started a store in Jaipur in the Pacific Mall,  which is North India's largest jewelry mall and we will also tap into many new malls that are coming up in the next 5-7 years.’’

The brand is also working with partners in China, Vietnam, Thailand,  Singapore, Malaysia, making sure that the brand is really a global brand having its presence across most of the world.

‘‘I may give you some good news that we have opened a couple of stores in Southeast Asia. So that will be an extension of our footprint,’’ signs off Neil.