"The Virtual Lounge is an endeavour to encourage browsing among the conservative Indian customers (who believe in buying from the family jeweller), by making the online experience more personalised," Gaurav S. Issar, CEO, JewelsNext.com told IANS.
"Customers can try all designs in various categories like diamond, gold, silver and artificial by just clicking and uploading their photograph and seeing the jewellery on themselves," he added.
The initial response to the new service is promising, and Issar feels the concept will soon be adapted by other portals.
"The response has been good till now. Since the missing link to bridge the online�'offline gap has been filled by this concept, we expect excellent response in times to come. We definitely see this trend continuing with other sites too. However, for the jewellery sector, we have the distribution rights for others to use the same technology platform," added Issar.
However, he admits the growth in jewellery e�'commerce in India has been slow.
"Jewellery in India is a $16 billion unorganised sector and jewellers work with a conventional approach. So, e�'commerce in jewellery was not welcomed. It took us time to make the jewellery fraternity understand that a marketplace model is the need of the hour. We explained to them that given variety, and discounted price along with required certification, there would be a great demand," he said.
"Now, we feel Indian customers are more Internet savvy and open to buying online because of factors like convenience, time and variety," he added.
