It’s a known fact that the jewellery sector all over the world is among the worst-hit during the COVID-19 pandemic. Of course, it’s safe to say that nobody expected this to hit them, so here’s a look into the revival strategy for one of the most money-making industries in the country.

As the COVID-19 pandemic has postponed many weddings, jewellers are forced to reassess everything from product inventory to sales and marketing strategies.

While the lockdown in India stopped business operations, it also gave jewellers the time to reflect on their business projects and chart out a plan. Many from the industry feel that consumers will indulge in revenge buying once the lockdown eases, but it will be short-lived. The consensus is that the industry will take at least six months to a year to make pre-lockdown revenues.

THE REASON BEHIND THE HIGH IMPACT

The major reason why the gems and jewels industry has been among the worst impacted is due to the shutdown of physical retail stores all over the country. However, over the last few weeks, there has been a surge in hope after the government has announced a list of relaxations.

• From the removal of the ban on transportation of non-essential items and the reopening of all non-essential stores (outside malls and shopping complexes) in districts that are showing a reduction in positive cases, small business owners in the jewellery industry can expect a slight increase in sales after the terrible slump.
• The reason for the high impact can also be attributed to the large number of traditional businesses that have been offline for their entire lifecycle. This can especially be said for businesses in Tier 3 and 4 cities in India, where retail sellers had no reason to take their business online.

However, the COVID-19 situation has brought to light the urgency of digitization and how businesses will suffer due to the lack of it. We can expect sales innovation to take an interesting turn in order to survive during these difficult times – after all, desperate times call for desperate decisions.

MAKE BEST USE OF DIGITAL PLATFORMS

If the demonetization move wasn’t motivational enough for traditional businesses to their business online, the COVID-19 pandemic surely is. This is the perfect opportunity for traditional jewellers to make a smooth transition to the digital world by introducing a user-friendly website, a trustworthy payment system, and a smooth feedback loop with the customer.
We can, however, expect a few good things to happen after this lockdown period is over:

• Segments across e-commerce are helping ease peoples’ anxieties by helping bring solutions both virtually as well as to your doorstep. These testing times are bringing to fore the accelerated adoption of online services.
• The post-lockdown time period can also mean a high-risk period for the jewellery industry. With the intervention of online jewellery sales in the future, we can expect a high influx of orders from tier 2 and 3 cities. It’s important that sellers stay prepared for the future with effective fraud prevention tools to keep your risky orders in check.

SANITIZATION PROCESS IN THE STORE

There is no doubt that with phased releases of lockdown, our nation and its economy can make a planned recovery from this situation. As people will be exposed to normal life sometime in the future, we can expect a new changed way of life to take the forefront.

As retail sellers all over the world brace to open up their physical stores in the near future, it’s essential to stay prepared by following the appropriate sanitization procedures. After all, we can expect sanitization levels to make a direct impact on trust.

Make sure to take all necessary precautions and safety measures to ensure everyone’s safety and well-being, including those of your employees, partners and customers. Regular sanitation, contactless delivery, PPEs for employees, etc. are some ways in which you can be sure to ensure 100% safety.

WEDDING SEASON – A TIME FOR HOPE

As we gear up for a post COVID world, this upcoming wedding season can be an opportunity to develop and strengthen our digital and omnichannel play. Many initiatives have been taken that will serve us well as customers get used to new digital-driven behaviour. Both tradition and the investment value of gold continue to be key drivers for an optimistic response, and we believe this theme will continue for the next 6-9 months this year.

As there will be fewer wedding functions and fewer attendees, the average money spent on weddings will shrink and people will avoid destination weddings for some time. This will help them to have more to invest in gold as a security for their kids.

Disclaimer: This article is authored by Arpit Goyal of Ambrus Jewels. The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author’s and do not represent those of PEAKLIFE.
Image credits: ambrusfinejewels.com, unsplash.com