International jewellery brands have designs on India

International branded jewellery companies are finding their way into India and thereby expanding the market here.

Hammer & Sohne, the pioneers of jewellery trade in Europe and Dubai-based D'dmas have already started operations in India. The third international brand, which is eyeing India is Beluga Arts' Beluga Jewellery of Iceland, set to launch in October.

One of the strategies that the international jewellery companies are using is giving Indian customers themes and designs that are essentially Indian in character. While Hammer & Sohne has unveiled Divya Vinayak, a collection depicting manifestations of lord Vinayak, D'dmas has introduced diamond-studded mangalsutras.

However, Beluga Jewellery would prefer to keep its collection different. Says Beluga's India representative Ritika Hiranandani, "Since Beluga Jewellery is an international brand, we feel that India would be a unique launching pad for Beluga for the Asian market." The company is expected to manufacture its range in India.

The reasons for international brands to eye India is because India is the largest consumer of gold in the world. Its diamond consumption also, as per a Diamond Trading Corporation survey last year, showed a 26 per cent rise over the previous year. The total jewellery market in India alone is estimated to be Rs 60,000 crore (Rs 600 billion) with the diamond jewellery accounting for about Rs 8,000 crore (Rs 80 billion).

Of this, the branded diamond jewellery market is estimated to be only Rs 600 crore (Rs 6 billion), it has been growing at about 16 per cent per annum for the past three years.

Hammer& Sohne has entered India through its wholly owned subsidiary Hammer Plus, a distribution company for its branded jewellery. Its inaugural line Divya Vinayak is a collection of 18 pendants in 22k gold and diamonds.

"The collection is different in the sense that it represents true emotions of the heart," says Sucheta Khandwala, managing director of Hammer Plus in India.

"Ganesha is invoked on all auspicious occasions and hence it has been our first choice for our line of jewellery."

D'dmas has entered the Indian market in a joint venture with Gemplus Jewellery India and formed D'damas Jewellery Manufacturing (India).

The new company will manufacture and market D'damas range of branded jewellery in both India as well as abroad. As part of its launch it unveiled nine collections.

The collection is aimed at targeting three broad segments -- wedding, post-wedding and strategic opportunity.

The wedding segment includes Mangalsutram (diamond mangalsutras), Vivaaha (wedding ring collection) and Jhalak (nose pins and ring collection).

The post-wedding segment includes Triana, Anika and Taarika and the strategic opportunity includes party wear Raena besides Fior and Princess diamond collection. Beluga Jewellery will launch three jewellery lines: the N-light collection, Lava design and Ring collection.

Tawhid Abdullah of D'damas says, "The idea of launching the brand in India is to bring international quality designer jewellery with an understanding of Indian culture. All the products will have International Gemological Institute certification and will come with a suggested maximum retail price."

D'damas is initially targeting the big cities. "Markets have been targeted on the basis of demographics, purchasing power, lifestyle and spending habits. We will target 400 retailers in the very first year of our operations," informs Mehul Choksi of Gemplus.

Instead of selling through showrooms or departmental stores, D'damas will be retailed through traditional jewellers.

"They will be our partners and we shall support them by under-writing various marketing and promotional activities," says Abdullah.

Hammer Plus's marketing activity will focus on visual merchandising, brand zone creation, brochures, direct mailers and creative material to help retailers to sell the collection in the right perspective.

The distribution would take place through customer service managers who would be appointed in each region.

These people would be directly employed by Hammer Plus and would be the sales arm, strategist and voice of the company in their region. D'dmas is also looking at building a strong distribution network to build brand experience at retail level.

With jewellery purchase becoming an all-year affair (as opposed to the earlier special-occasion shopping), foreign companies may be tapping a goldmine.