Another offline biggie enters ecommerce; Leading jeweller, Kalyan Jewellers to start selling online

The latest entrant to attempt to ride the ecommerce wave is Kalyan Jewellers, Kerala based jewellery retailers. The jewellery store chain headquartered in Thrissur, Kerala, is planning to begin its online operations in the next two months.

Catering to the niche class of buyers

Unlike popular online jewellery stores like CaratLane or BlueStone, which make expensive jewellery accessible to the common mass of buyers, Kalyan has plans to target the niche market. “We are looking to target those customers who would end up buying other luxury brands like watches or perfumes for their loved ones,” says Ramesh Kalyanaraman, executive director of the Kalyan group.

The move to go online appears to be a rebound reaction of the popular jewellery store recording a drop of 10% in their sales in the first quarter of the fiscal year. Kalyanaraman says that the reason for this is the closure of their gold savings scheme at the end of the previous fiscal due to modified gold regulation. The gold savings scheme was responsible for 20% of Kalyan’s sales, says Kalyanaraman. They plan to launch a new savings scheme in line with the new regulations.

Warbus Pincus had invested Rs. 1,200 crores in Kalyan in 2014, to buy a minority stake in the company.

Trends in online jewellery retail

As of now the leading online jewellers include BlueStone, CaratLane, Kama Jewellery, and WearYourShine. While WearYourShine is an online store launched by PC Jewellers, a Delhi based jewellery retailer, Kama, BlueStone and CaratLane operate exclusively through their websites.

However, several established brands like Tanishq, Abharan and Gitanjali are also launching their websites to expand their reach. With the number of customers for buying gold and precious jewellery online going up, it is only natural that brands with traditional brick and mortar stores want a share of the cake too. If they do not, then they risk losing their loyal customers.

While the sale of gold jewellery is still in its nascent stage, there is great scope for growth over the years. Given the current trend, it looks like big brands will start looking at creating online stores to continue their operations.