It is common knowledge that Indian consumers have a tendency to touch and sense everything and feel satisfied before they purchase. This behavior is however changing fast as Indian buyers, excessively fond of gold jewelry, are today rampantly using online shopping facilities – both for convenience as well as for discounts.The Indian jewelry and gems market is estimated to be approximately Rs 1.2 lakh crore – out of this only 1% is sold online, according to surveys. Besides, bulk of online sales comprise of imitation jewelry.
But the one unique feature is Indians are known to be overly keen to wear gold ornaments. However, of late, the demand for gold is steadily dipping with the soaring prices.As a result, the demand for imitation jewelry has appreciably shot up. The imitation jewelry market is pegged at a whopping Rs 8000 crores – of which about 2% is sold online.
Apart from major metros and tier one cities – availability of standardized imitation jewelry is an intimidating affair.This grossly under-served consumer segment is expected to steer the future growth of online jewelry market. It is encouraging to note that consumers in tier 2 and 3 cities are opting for online purchase of jewelry – provided, of course, trust and faith is there.
Gold jewelry retailers are beginning to offer affordable pricing, wider choice, international patterns / designs, acceptable lab certification for all their ornaments and easy staggered payment schemes. All these are obviously intended to inflate sales and expand the online customer base.Furthermore, online gold jewelry retailers offer lucrative discounts and coupons to their customers. This is possible because the operational cost of online gold jewelry is low when compared to brick and mortar shops.
While imitation jewelry continues to be the major chunk of overall online jewelry sale, authentic gold jewelry made of gold, platinum and silver is also fast catching up.With tempting offers like 30-day no-questions-asked return policy and home try service are attracting more online consumers.
When consumers decide to purchase costly jewelry online, she/he is bound to have grave concerns. To address these concerns like purity, carat fragmentation etc, online retailers address pre-sales queries via customer care wing and then send dummy jewelry for size and design verification.
The online jewelry market is indeed booming and the trend of buying jewelry online is fast becoming a reality in India.