Amid lacklustre sales ahead of Akshaya Tritiya on May 9, jewellers are banking on a buying rush over the weekend by attracting customers through discount offers. The jeweller community is hoping that last-minute buying would help bring down inventories piled up due to the 44-day strike to oppose levy of 1 per cent excise duty on non-silver jewellery.
“We are expecting weekend sales to be good ahead of Akshaya Tritiya. Our estimation is that sales will be at least 30 per cent higher over the previous year’s sales on the auspicious day,” Saurabh Gadgil, CMD, PNG Jewellers and Vice President, Indian Bullion and Jewellers’ Association told FeMoney.
Gadgil said that his stores are offering 50 percent discount on making charges for diamond jewellery and up to 30 per cent on gold jewellery.
Gadgil felt that the gold price has also put a brake on sales. “Price has been a dampener,” he said. Gold prices have risen 22 per cent since the beginning of the year and has been ruling above Rs 30,000 per 10 grams. It has seen a sudden spike in recent weeks, both in the domestic and international markets.
Ishu Datwani, founder Anmol Jewellers, echoes Gadgil’s views. “Over the last few days we are seeing people coming back. We feel weekend sales likely to be high with families going together for the purchase. We see a 20-25 per cent increase in sales over last year’s Akshaya Tritiya,” Datwani said.
Anmol Jewellers are also offering a discount scheme to push sales. “We are giving away jeweller at zero making charges in our discount scheme which runs from May 1-9,” Datwani said.
Making charges generally constitute between 10-20 per cent of the price of the jewellery, say experts.
Krishan Alreja, Regional Manager, North, All India Gem and Jewellery Trade Federation, said that jewellers are ruing the business lost due to the 44-day strike. “Sale is quite mutued. Buying season generally starts in early April. But we lost a total of 44 days and there has been a stockpile,” Alreja said.
Gadgil agrees. “We lost the earlier wedding season due to the strike. Now only part of the backlog will be bought, not the entire stock,” he said.
