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08 - Chapter 5 PDF
08 - Chapter 5 PDF
JEWELLERY INDUSTRY
1
American Marketing Association Quoted by Pillai, R.S.N. & Bagavathi; Modern Marketing
Principles and Practices; S. Chand & Co. Ltd.; N.Dlh.. 1998; p. 296.
2
Ibid.; p. 296.
of stages. Channel length or complexity depends on the range of
functions required.
Thus the physical distribution of products involved broad
range of activities relating to efficient movement of such products
from the production to the consumption level. In other words, the
distribution channel comprises set of institutions which performs all
the activities or functions utilized to move a product and its title
from production to consumption.
Following are the several distribution channels of different
complexity:
Manufacturer Consumer
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(A) MARKETING CHANNELS IN JEWELLERY
INDUSTRY
In district Meerut the following marketing channels are found
in case of marketing of Jewellery:
I - Structure
MANUFACTURERS (KARIGARS)
WHOLESALERS
COMMISSION AGENTS
RETAILERS
CONSUMERS
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this structure the Jewellery is also manufactured according to the
consumers needs and want.
II - Structure
COMMISSION AGENTS
RETAILERS
CONSUMERS
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and ultimate consumers are found to be as usual as they follow in
another structures.
III - Structure
MANUFACTURERS (KARIGARS)
RETAILERS
CONSUMERS
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IV - Structure
MANUFACTURERS (KARIGARS)
CONSUMERS
The above one is the last but not the least marketing structure.
This is basically based on the direct marketing system. But this
method is practically popular and followed in rural areas by the
manufacturer of small holdings. The above marketing structure
involves only two activities right from manufacturer to consumers
and consumers to manufacturers. The manufacturer of Jewellery
keep very little quantity of jewellery with him to show to the
consumers and make the consumers aware about the latest trend in
the market but even though if consumers do not like the product
they make necessary amendment in the existing product and also
make new jewellery on their demand. But the success or
significance of the above structure is restricted, as the number of
consumers in the rural areas is limited.
This marketing structure is most popular only in rural areas
because of the favorable circumstances prevailing here. In rural
areas the manufacturers generally have very less amount of capital
with them to invest that is why they prefer to manufacture the
product according to the want and taste of the consumers and not to
make any stock of them.
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As far as the popularity of the above structure is concerned, it
is not popular in urban areas because of the limitations prevailing in
these markets for the applicability of this structure. Moreover, in
urban and suburban areas the manufacturers of Jewellery have
plenty of design with them according to the taste and preferences of
consumers.
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I - Structure
MANUFACTURERS
COMMISSION AGENTS
WHOLESALERS
RETAILERS
CONSUMERS
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entire quantity cannot be ensured to be consumed in specific area
where it is manufactured.
II - Structure
MANUFACTURER
WEBSITES
RETAIL OUTLETS
CONSUMERS
The above structure is also followed by the manufacturers of
branded jewellery. The main reason of following this structure is to
save the charges paid to different marketing intermediaries viz.
wholesalers, commission agents and retailers. The branded
companies establish their research labs and manufacturing
workshops and get the jewellery manufactured according to latest
fashion and consumers preferences. The branded companies also
display their designs on their websites and try to attract rather
convince to the consumers of branded jewellery. Moreover, they
open their retail outlets at central places of different cities in the
country.
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MARKETING CHANNELS OF JEWELLERY AT
INTERNATIONAL LEVEL
3
Hess & Cateors; International marketing; Irwin Publications: London, 1996. P. 4.
120
marketing channels for exporting goods like Readymade Jewellery
is very much different from channels used in national or local level.
As international level marketing procedure is lengthy as compared
to local and national level marketing procedure, hence a high degree
of attention is required for planning marketing structure at
international level.
I - Structure
MANUFACTURERS
DOMESTIC MIDDLEMEN
(Export agencies etc.)
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In this structure first of all the Manufacturers of said product
contact to the local export agencies and other authorized
commission agents who run such kind of agencies to help the
exporters in the country. Here it is to be mentioned that these
agencies deal in specific products, hence a manufacturer having
interest in exporting his product has to contact these specific
agencies for the purpose. These domestic agencies having their
contacts with the foreign middlemen send the specifications to
them. Then the foreign agencies collect the orders from different
local and national markets in their countries
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II - Structure
MANUFACTURERS
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(B) MARKETING BEHAVIOUR AND
STRATEGIES OF JEWELLERS
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is limited to a specific class only. Still today the customers of
Jewellery enjoy buying it by making a feel for touching it
personally which inspires and fascinate them to buy it.
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I. WHAT INSPIRES THE CUSTOMERS?
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and to buy it? It may be the occasion of marriage, marriage
anniversary or birthday; who is the customerman or woman; how
he/she takes itseriously or lightly; what is his/her purchasing
power; what types of pressures are on him/her to buy Jewellery;
what are the schemes and offers attracting him/her; and what are
his/her relations with the jewellers etc? All these circumstances
decide the buying process and enforce a customer to buy Jewellery
from a particular shop.
After finding the answers of the above questions and knowing
about the buying behaviour and process of the customers; jewellers
make their marketing strategy.
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creative energy and they can have a good time developing this
aspect of their Jewellery business.
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product marketed by this way and thus they ensure frequent visit of
their customers.
Some other strategies are being given below which are
adopted by branded and non-branded jewellers in the Jewellery
market of Meerut District.
EXCHANGE OFFER
This is a very common marketing strategy which is being
followed by almost all the jewellers. In general practice customers
have doubt in their minds regarding the purity of gold Jewellery.
Even after buying from the Jewellers from whom they have been
buying for a long. In this case the jewellers give offer to exchange
the Jewellery at the said percentage of purity to make their
goodwill. It helps both the customers as well as jewellers in creating
mutual understanding and belief among them. Thus customers get
satisfaction regarding purity of their Jewellery as well as jewellers
get customer for a long period after satisfying their doubts
regarding the purity of Jewellery.
LUCKY DRAWS
Now a days it is very common in Meerut District that the
Jewellers announce various lucky draw schemes in which the
purchase of a certain amount of gold makes a customer eligible to
participate in a lucky draw. This fascinating event helps in
improving their sale. Now the customer wishes to go to the new
jeweller each time as each jeweller today is ensuring about the
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purity of the gold sold by him. So the buyers wish to enjoy a
movement and want to participate in such kind of lucky draws.
Actually such lucky draws generally contain very attractive
proposals for their customers such as first prize 100 gm gold set,
second prize a 3 day holiday package at any hill station and the
third, fourth prizesand so on.
TRANSPORTATION FACILITY
In Meerut district now the jewellers are providing
transportation facility to their customers to make them loyal.
Actually being and expensive item Jewellery is considered to be
risky during transportation. In this regard now the jewellers are
providing transportation facilities to their customers. This not only
promotes their sales but make their customers loyal also. It is being
realized by the jewellers that now customers are expecting some
thing unique from their side. This is an additional way of promoting
their own-shop brand. It is specially given to the customers who
make the purchase of large amount and want to avoid the risk arises
in transit.
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awards and trophies during various educational fates and sports
events. It not only helps them in promoting their brand but make
their active presence in various social events too.
PRICE DISCOUNT
The jewellers of this district also launch a price discount
scheme on some occasions. This strategy is adopted generally in
case of Diamond Jewellery. For example Tanishq launched this
scheme so many times saying that a customer can purchase their
Diamond Jewellery @ 75% of their M.R.P.
REFRESHMENTS
Generally the jewellers of this district provide different types
of snacks, coffee, tea and cold drinks to their customers so that they
may feel relaxed and may select their ornaments in easy mood. This
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strategy generally pays the jewellers in the form of increase sales
and ultimately more profits.
PERSONAL ATTENTION
This is the welcome strategy. As a customer reaches the
showroom, first of all the watchman gives a warm salute to him and
as he enters inside, the staff welcomes him/her and pays its personal
attention to him/her. In some specific cases the owner himself pays
his personal attention to the customers. It occurs when the customer
is a renowned personality or a big buyer or his very near and dear.
Generally the staff helps the customers in matching their choice in
accordance to their purchasing capacity. Thus the staff establishes
its personal relations with the customers which proves beneficial to
the showroom in future too.
Thus it can be concluded that the jewellers of District Meerut
adopt different strategies to attract customers. These strategies are -
Branded Jewellery, Financial facilities, Exchange offers, Lucky
Draws, Transportation Facilities, Sponsorship on festivals and other
occasions, Special Offers (Free Gifts), Price Discount,
Refreshments, Personal Attention etc.
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and this category will fully bloom and make a huge jump in terms
of its acceptance and growth.
There are certain trends which will make the coming future
sovereign of branded Jewellery. People can use these trends to their
advantage to grow their individual brands in the future.
It is believed for many years that Jewellery was purchased as
an investment option. The entire thinking was related to
appreciation or using it as a security measure during bad times.
However, it is expected that in coming future branded Jewellery
will be purchased and used less for investment and more for
consumption. It will be used as a consumer product to delight the
consumer, fulfill the desires, enhance beauty and be a part of attire.
In the late 1990s, players in the branded gold Jewellery
market formulated strategies for wooing customers. According to
Jacob Kurian (Kurian), Chief Operating Officer of a leading brand
Tanishq, the challenges were many.
As the Jewellery market was highly fragmented, lacked
branding, and allowed many unethical practices to flourish, Tanishq
worked hard on a two-pronged brand-building strategy: cultivate
trust by educating customers about the unethical practices in the
business and change the perception of Jewellery as a high-priced
purchase.
After all Kurian Said, "We are changing the attitudes of
customers from blind trust to informed trust." To increase its market
share, Tanishq formulated a strategy for luring people away from
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traditional neighborhood jewellers. Tanishq's strategy was to create
differentiation and build trust.
According to Kurian, the first part of the strategy was "to
provide a point of differentiation in a highly commoditized category
which is the whole point of branding." The second part of the
strategy was to project Tanishq as an unimpeachable mark of trust.
According to Kurian, "If differentiation plays the role of primary
attraction, trust takes care of lifelong loyalty." One way to create
differentiation was through design.
The emphasis had to be on design because local jewellers
could offer to design any pattern according to the customer's
specifications. For a national brand a generic design concept with
regional variations had to be evolved. For this, Tanishq set up a
seven member in-house design team and also outsourced designs
from freelance designers.
The designers visited different parts of the country to get
feedback on Tanishq's designs and collected information about
customer preferences. On the basis of this feedback, each
showroom could select the designs it would carry. To stay ahead of
competition from local jewellers, Tanishq decided to focus on
quality control. In 1999, it introduced carat meters which showed
the purity of gold.
In fact, Tanishq's USP was the purity of its gold. Accordingly,
the company's ad campaigns emphasized the purity aspect of all
Tanishq ornaments. In November 2002, Tanishq introduced a new
collection of Jewellery called Lightweights Jewellery.
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The collection featured neckwear, earrings, bangles, rings and
chains in 22 karat gold with prices starting at Rs 1,100. It also
launched Lightweight Diamonds, with prices starting at Rs 3,000.
Tanishq focused not only on urban markets, but small town markets
too.
Besides, competition from stores in small towns was less stiff
than competition from the large Jewellery stores in the metropolitan
cities. According to Kurian, the best returns on investment came
from small towns.
Carbon's focus had always been to move Jewellery from the
vault to the dressing table and bring the selling of Jewellery out of
heavily guarded Jewellery stores. This was achieved by persuading
a few lifestyle stores to add branded Jewellery to their vast array of
products. Besides selling from lifestyle stores, Carbon also sold its
products as gift items over the internet. Like Tanishq, Carbon laid
emphasis on design.
Most of its designs were contributed by students at the
National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) through the
diploma programme which the company sponsored. In addition,
Peakok's team of six designers, (headed by Rajeswari Iyer, an
alumnus of a German design school who had worked in the U.K.,
Germany and India) turned out around 180 to 200 styles in a year,
with 75 designs per style.
At any point in time, there were around 600 designs of
Carbon on sale, and on an average, 300 to 400 pieces per design
were sold. In 2002, Carbon launched its 'Sun Sign' collection, which
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was based on the symbols of the Zodiac. This collection was a set
of 12 pendants designed in a blend of 18 carat white and yellow
gold.
While 18 carat gold was commonly used in Carbon products,
some of the designs also used white gold, titanium and steel.
Diamond was the preferred precious stone, but other colored stones
were also used. Comprising items of everyday use, (rings, chains,
bracelets, ear studs, tie-pins and cuff links) Carbon items were an
impulse purchases. The brand had no off take cycles in the year,
like the marriage season, unlike traditional Jewellery.
The creation, manufacture and marketing of Carbon were
different from the making and selling of traditional Jewellery. Said
Rao, "We are attempting here to eliminate the low productivity,
quality inconsistencies and high precious metal loss associated with
traditional Jewellery making.
Thus it can be concluded that the coming time will be the era
of branded jewellery because it will grasp a large market of
traditional jewellery in India. So it becomes necessary for the
traditional jewellers to make their marketing strategy in such a
manner so that they may be successful to retain the present cliental
and be stand in the market showing their sound existence.
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HALLMARKING OF GOLD JEWELLERY
137
(Revised Act, 2011) which has a provision of penalty for not
implementing the Act.
The jewellers holding BIS license shall have to provide:
I. Commitment to quality
II. Assurance of consistency in quality and purity of hallmarked
gold Jewellery.
III. Implementation of quality assurance system for the purpose
of operating hallmarking scheme.
IV. Provide complete customer satisfaction
V. Display all requirements describing the components of
hallmark including the magnifying glass.
Hallmark consist the following:
(1)BIS Marks
(2)Purity/Fineness Marks
958 Corresponds to 23 Carat
916 Corresponds to 22 Carat
875 Corresponds to 21 Carat
750 Corresponds to 18 Carat
585 Corresponds to 14 Carat
375 Corresponds to 09 Carat
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Certified. Though there are 153 hallmarking centres in India but in
Meerut District there are only the following 2 Hallmarking Centres:
(1)M/S Hira Hallmarking Centre
Mr. Ashok Kumar Gupta, 65, Kagzi Bazar, Saraffa, Meerut
* * *
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