Trust & Transparency - The Importance Of Educating The Consumer

Western countries have made attempts to educate and enlighten their consumers by providing the source of diamonds and other gemstones used in jewellery. However, Indian jewellers have yet to adopt this practice. Sanjana Parikh speaks to jewellers pan India to understand how aware their consumers are and how this trend will shape up in the future

- Sanjana Parikh

Does your consumer know where the center stone of her ring comes from? Can your client pinpoint which region of the world has produced her strand of ruby beads? Since trust and transparency form the foundation of any lucrative business, how can our industry, which has placed trust at the centre of its business model, survive in the long run without transparency? Gold, diamonds, gemstones and other precious materials are used in making a piece of jewellery. To strengthen trust in the mind of the consumer, important details like where the stones have been mined from, are they responsibly mined and what processes have been followed while cutting and polishing etc should be given. The responsibility of procuring and divulging these details lie with the jeweller if he wants to survive in the long term.

Saumya Sanjjay of AVR Swarnamahal, a Salem based chain of jewellery stores says, “It definitely has an impact when you know the entire history of the diamond that you own. Gemstones such as emeralds, rubies, sapphires and other stones also have their own stories. When manufacturers provide us these details, it is another piece of valuable information that helps us give confidence to our consumers. It is well within the rights of the consumers in wanting to know more information about the stone they are buying.”

The million-dollar question