Come Valentine's Day is expected to set the mood right for jewellery shopping as retailers are hoping for up to 40% growth in sales compared to last year.
The season of love usually witnesses heavy sales of light weight and trendy jewelleries, especially made of coloured gems and diamonds, jewellery exporter and retailer Shree Ganesh Jewellery House's Marketing and Communication Head Rahul Singh told PTI.
"This year the trend seems to be positive and we expect almost 40% growth in sales of light weight gold, coloured gems and diamond jewellery segments compared to the same period last year," Singh said.
The jewellery maker, which plans to increase domestic retail presence, has introduced a light weight trendy jewellery line in the range of Rs 3,500-18,000 for Valentine's Day.
"Valentine's Day is specially celebrated by youngsters, who prefer light weight jewels. Keeping this in mind, we have introduced a special range of light weight jewellery and we are positive this will help in popularising our brand in the country," Singh said.
Echoing the view, Ashok Minawala of Danabhai Jewellers & Sons said this year the Valentine's Day sales are looking positive and a lot of action and excitement is being seen in the run up to the annual celebration. "With the positive economic trend, we expect over 20% growth in sales compared to last year, especially of the light weight jewellery," he said.
Last year sales during the season were affected as people were cautious about buying jewellery since economic conditions were in the recovery phase, Minawala said. Gitanjali Group Chairman and Managing Director Mehul Choksi said every year usually there is a growth of about 25% in sales in January and February. "We usually see a growth of 20-25% during the Valentine's Day season every year, which is expected to continue this year too." The sales are more in the fashion jewellery segment, he added. Valentine's Day fever also boosts exports, which may go up by 15% in volume and 25% in value this month, Choksi said. However, All India Gems and Jewellery Trade Federation Chairman Vinod Hayagriv said the season is just picking up in India and yet to become a major sales driver. "This is not a major season in the country. However, looking at the sales trend, February is likely to generate 20-25% more business compared to the same month last year," he added.