Online jewellers shine during offline strike

Indian jewellers went on strike, protesting the govt's move to re-introduce a 1% excise duty on gold jewellery

As the jewellers from the world's second biggest gold consumer went on strike from the beginning of March (which ended earlier this week), online jewellery retailers saw in increased traffic to their sites. 

Indian jewellers went on strike, shutting down shops, protesting the government move of re-introducing a 1% excise duty on gold jewellery after four years. Consumers, who did not have much choice during the 42-day long strike crowded the online marketplace instead, which witnessed a 30% rise in traffic. 

Mehul Choksi, chairman and managing director of Gitanjali Group, one of the largest integrated Indian diamond and jewellery manufacturing and retailing companies, said that it did witness an increased traffic to its website. "We saw at least 25-30% increased traffic to the website during the period of the strike, as shops were shut," Choksi said adding that the online business currently accounts for only around 3% of Gitanjali's overall business of around Rs 10,000 crore. 

Online jewellery in India is still a nascent category, especially when it comes to precious jewellery. Industry insiders believe that it is not more than 4-5% of the market, and is estimated to be around $200 million only of the overall Rs 3.15 lakh crore jewellery market. 

However, the trend is definitely catching the fancy of the urban Indian consumer who finds it convenient. As Pushkar Jain, chief marketing officer of Bluestone, a Ratan Tata backed jewellery portal. Online jewellery buying is a mature category, as the ticket size is high. 

Jain said that they witnessed a 30-40% rise in traffic, which translated into a slightly higher sales growth compared to the previous months and the demand was typically for bridal jewellery like mangalsutras and bangles, given the wedding season is about to begin. 

The typical customers are a 25-40 year old urban married couples with high disposable income. Bluestone already has around one million registered uses, of which at least 45% are active on a monthly basis. Jain claimed that the business as such is clocking a 2.5 to 3 times growth rate on a year on year basis. 

A Caratlane spokesperson informed,"We continue to see a month-on-month growth on traffic and transactions on our website. Not only are more people visiting the website, but the actual sales are up too, mainly because of our new product designs, campaigns, and promotions." She, however, added that it is difficult to attribute any specific traffic or sales increase directly to the offline jewellers strike.