Amazon has just forayed into the luxury segment in India with a jewelry estore. Most of the leading jewelry brands, both Indian and international, are offering their wares on it. You can now pick up everything from necklaces to anklets and mangalsutras – a kind of wedding band worn on the neck instead of the finger.
Specialized homegrown jewelry ecommerce stores like Bluestone and Caratlane have also partnered with Amazon to be on this new store.
Pricey luxury items like jewelry have been slow to pick up online sales, because people like to have a touch-and-feel to see if they suit their individual tastes before shelling out big bucks. But this is changing. A recent McKinsey report says online accounts for only four percent of luxury sales, but it is growing twice as fast as overall sales. “By 2017, pure online sales [of luxury goods] should account for 6 percent of the sector as a whole,” the report states.
Amazon obviously thinks India is in step with this trend. “Much like the West, we in India are also witnessing an increasingly trend in online jewelry shopping,” says Vikas Purohit, category lead for fashion at Amazon India, in a statement. The launch of the jewellery estore was timed to coincide with the wedding season in India.
The products are curated under different sections like diamond, gold, and gemstone jewelry, designer stores, and so on as well as under various brands like D’damas, Aspen, and couture jewellery brand Rose Group. It also has a special ‘Conflict-free diamond collection’ for the socially conscious. Amazon promises that all the products in this store will come with valid certifications like hallmark guarantee.
Thus far in India, every step by Amazon is matched by a counter-move from Flipkart, its chief rival in the country, and vice versa. So, expect an announcement from the homegrown ecommerce unicorn soon.
Ecommerce has taken off in India this year, with billions of dollars being poured in, and millions going online to shop. Google’s annual online shopping growth trends report released on Thursday says India will have 100 million online shoppers by 2016. There were 35 million online shoppers this year, more than quadruple the number for 2012.
Source insideretail.asia