Over the next six months, D’Damas, a major brand of the Gitanjali Group, will open 15 flagship stores for the first time. And, add 80 more franchise outlets by the end of 2011.
Known for trendy and intricately designed diamond jewellery, D’Damas presently operates through three channels — franchises, distribution outlets and modern retail. It has 28 franchise stores and a network of 750 retailers across 325 towns. In modern retail, it has 122 touch points across multi-brand outlets such as Shoppers Stop, Lifestyle, Pantaloons and Ritu Wears.
Gitanjali Group was established in 1966 and specialises in making and selling jewellery of diamonds, gold, silver, platinum, stainless steel and mixed metal. It has seven brands for diamonds — ‘D’Damas’, ‘Asmi’, ‘Gili’, ‘Nakshatra’, ‘Diya’, ‘Sangini’ and ‘Spectrum’. In gold jewellery, its popular brands are ‘Maya’ and ‘Vivah’. Last year’s turnover was Rs 6,527 crore and it expects to achieve Rs 8,500 crore this year. The company is growing at 30 per cent annually for the past three years.
With almost 90 per cent of sales from diamonds, the group has aggressive plans to increase its reach in Tier-I and II towns. R K Menon, chief operating officer, D’Damas Jewellery (India) Pvt Ltd, says, “We have created different sub-brands, keeping in mind the specific needs of consumers, like ‘Lamhe’ for gifting, ‘Gliteratti’ for conferences, dinners and social meets, ‘Vivah’ for marriages, Solitaires for all-purpose and a new segment called ‘Diamond engagement rings’ for engagements. We plan to touch 100 more towns, by adding 400 more retailers in our network by next year.”
D’Damas has three formats of stores. ‘D’Damas World’ is mainly in metros and bigger cities. ‘D’Damas Wedding and Occasions’ are smaller stores in smaller cities. Then there are ‘standalone sub-brand stores’, mainly designed for tier-III and emerging retail towns.
Menon comments: “Selling diamonds in India is not very difficult. We just need to keep in mind the area-specific needs and accordingly design relevant products and services. We have standalone ‘Lamhe stores’ in Aizawl and at Hospet in Karnataka, where people like to buy diamonds for gifting.”
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Adding: “We do have gold jewellery, but it’s just to increase the footfall. In India, people still have a strong attachment with gold. They wouldn’t like to visit a store that doesn’t have gold ornaments. Our gold designs are very selective and niche, just to attract the crowd. Also, we have started a new religious line called ‘Soumya’, that would offer a pendant or a ‘Ganesha’ to those looking for religious ornaments in our stores.”
Initally, said Menon, the main challenge was to create awareness and, thus, demand for branded diamonds.