Gitanjali makes online foray

BRANDS: Among the country’s largest jewellery manufacturers, the group is taking all its 25 brands online to boost sales

The Rs 3,500-crore jewellery manufacturer and retailer Gitanjali Group has made its e-tailing foray. Popular brands from the Gitanjali stable like Asmi, D’damas, Nakshatra, Gili, Diya, Sangini and others will be sold online through their own portals.

Two of its brands — Gili and D’damas — had been testing the e-commerce module for the last one year. Asmi and Nakshatra made their online foray earlier this month. By January 2009, the group plans to bring all its 25 brands for online sale.

Consumers can select and buy the products from catalogues available online and can make the payment through credit cards or direct money transfer from their bank accounts via net banking. The group has already tied-up with Visa and Mastercard and several major banks. Products ordered online will be shipped directly to the consumer. Else they can be collected from the nearest offline store. Initially, the company is charging a minimal shipping charge, but beginning January, the group plans to deliver the products free of charge.

“E-tailing is becoming important, keeping in mind the increasing comfort level of people in buying online. During Diwali, online sales picked up. Now with Christmas and New Year, people are buying gifts online. We target young people, NRIs and foreigners (the biggest potential customers) through our e-tailing venture. Moreover, this is to expand our customer network and reach out to international buyers,” says Mehul Choksi, chairman and managing director of Gitanjali Group.

The group already has tie-ups with other e-commerce sites like Indiatimes and Rediff and other such agreements are in the pipeline.

Says Choksi: “We are exploring a whole new sphere of jewellery marketing and going forward e-commerce will be a substantial part of our marketing initiative. We expect to capture 35 per cent of the total online jewellery sales in India by 2010.” By 2010, the group targets 3-5 per cent of its total sales to come through e-commerce.

Offline, the diamond company plans to launch new stores and new brands in the New Year. It will come up with more stores in collaboration with MMTC (A government of India enterprise and India’s largest trader of metal).

Falling in the discretionary spend category, jewellery business is not untouched by the slowdown. For Gitanjali, sales are down by 30-35 per cent. The group has increased dealer incentives and promotional offers to consumers to rev up sales. In fact Choksi plans to pass on the benefit of the central excise duty on jewellery to the consumer.