Ahammed MP
Chairman, Malabar Gold & Diamonds
The success of our ‘One India One Gold Rate’ plan will make traders think about uniform gold prices
THE RETAIL JEWELLER (TRJ): What valuable lessons have you learnt from Covid?
AHAMMED MP (AM): First, jewellery retail should be in sync with the changed reality that is the rise of commerce through digital channels. Second, digital communication channels should be leveraged extensively to explore new retail opportunities. Third, we need to develop a collaborative environment so that all the stakeholders in the supply chain continue to work together to keep the business running. Fourth, safety and hygiene for the customer are as important the luxury of a pleasant shopping experience. And finally, as everyone’s marketing budget has taken a hit, we have to think creatively to engage with customers. For example, we organized virtual store launches.
TRJ: What are the business-risks you would like to minimize based on your experience of the pandemic?
AM: We aim to become the world’s largest jeweller with a target to triple its retail network from 250 showrooms in 2018 to 750 outlets by 2023. So, we have taken certain risks that are in stride while pursuing the growth plan. The introduction of our ‘One India One Gold Rate’ plan also involved risks. Having said that, pandemic has taught us to rationalize some operational and management-related risks and we are implementing them. For instance, all our stores across the country were shut down, we quickly switched to online, and bolstered our e-commerce presence to reach out to customers.
Denne historien er fra January - February 2021-utgaven av The Retail Jeweller.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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Denne historien er fra January - February 2021-utgaven av The Retail Jeweller.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
How Dubai Governs Its Gold
Dubai’s high standard of gold quality and trade transparency combined with a jaw-dropping 98% compliance level, makes a perfect case study for how India needs to emulate the best practices that lures buyers from world over to the ‘City of Gold’
HUID: Paralyzed by incapacity
The one clarity about hallmarking and HUID at present is that there is none. Here’s the long and short of the HUID capacity constraint.
Mozambican masterpieces by FURA
Rubies are rarer by far than diamonds — and some of the finest rubies today come from Mozambique. Mindful of the opportunities, FURA Gems, a fast-moving young mining company, is resolute in expanding the ruby market even as it gets ready to hold its inaugural ruby auctions in Jaipur this month.
HUID: India's quest for GOLD PURITY EXCELLENCE
The Indian gold jewellery sector’s journey towards hallmarking has been long, slow and bumpy. Although voluntary hallmarking became available in April 2000, compromised gold was still widely sold in the market — a fact of which neither public nor government was ignorant. In June 2021, however, hallmarking became mandatory. Manufacturers, jewellers and consumers now must quickly come to grips with the new purity norms, which juxtapose a unique six-digit ID for each item with the utterly inadequate state of India’s hallmarking infrastructure. The Retail Jeweller weighs the pros and cons of this sharp turn in the current, mid pandemic moment, when the gems and jewellery industry is more dependent than ever on gold sales.
INTERVIEW - SACHIN JAIN
De Beers is undergoing an unprecedented transformation by returning to the root and adding its tag of assurance to develop a fortified position for its partners and indisputable trust for consumers in years to come. Ahead of the De Beers Forevermark annual Forum 2021, Soma Bhatta speaks to Sachin Jain, MD, Forevermark India, about the massive internal and external changes that the organization is undergoing and what it means for De Beers’ Indian stakeholders.
INTERVIEW - AJOY CHAWLA
As long ago as the early 2000’s, Tanishq, the preeminent brand in organised jewellery retail, made known that gold purity standard in India is questionable. It equated purity with trust, winning over millions of customers. Will mandatory hallmarking erode that lead? Not so, Ajoy Chawla, CEO, Jewellery Division, Titan Company Limited, tells Soma Bhatta - trust is an edifice of many levels, and purity is only the first one.
INTERVIEW - COLIN SHAH
As IIJS 2021 gears up to resuscitate the trade sentiment with its comeback physical show in Sept 2021, Colin Shah, Chairman, GJEPC speaks to Soma Bhatta about its role in steering domestic policies, plans to scale up India footprint, and why it needs to first build domestic demand in order to become a reliable
INTERVIEW - SHAILESH SANGANI
IIJS 2021 has surprised the trade for many reasons: the highest number of exhibitors ever in the history of the show; forty percent larger show space and shifting base to Bengaluru after a three-decade plus unbeaten stint in Mumbai. Shailesh Sangani, convener, national exhibitions, GJEPC, speaks to Soma Bhatta about the key highlights, trade expectations and why retailers should brave the odds to visit the upcoming show.
GOLD: A Modern Rendition
World Gold Council’s ‘You are Gold’ Campaign to excite millennials about gold purchase.
From the earth, for the earth: How natural diamond miners are rehabilitating nature
Diamond is in a very eventful phase in its global trade history. There are discoveries such as the 1,098 carat diamond by Debswana, a joint venture between De Beers and the Botswana government. Natural diamonds no longer adorn a woman with its beauty only, the members of Natural Diamond Council are giving their all to conserve the environment with better technology. And this is exactly where Natural Diamond Council is making a difference inimitable in scale and heart. Let’s understand better.
