Indian Jeweller (IJ) Magazine August -September 2019

to that but for us accessibility and parking have
been the main factors.” Abharan Timeless has
two stores in Bangalore one in the heart of the
city and one in West Bangalore. While the first
one is on a main road, the second is located on
a service road, but the ambiance and parking is
great. “People don’t mind travelling the extra
distance because of the convenience we offer
in that branch.”
Whatever the case may be and depending
on your expansion strategy, thorough research
and feasibility study on a particular location are
fundamental. “Being an organised jewellery
retail chain of both national and international
repute, our brand enjoys a certain level of trust,
affinity and acceptance with the jewellery
buyers in the country. There are some standard
factors that we still consider while choosing
a location such as accessibility, prominence
of that location, consumer demographics,
competition proximity, location cost, strength
and depth of the catchment areas adjacent
to that location, etc., We are now exploring
locations which can take the story of Malabar
Gold and Diamonds forward. As we have
embarked upon the journey to strengthen our
retail presence further, we’ll choose locations,
which will give us broader jewellery retail
bandwidth, first-mover advantage and better
return on investment,” says Ahammed.
Neighbourhood is equally important for
Indore based DP Jewellers. “Surrounding
atmosphere and the kind of jewellers present
in a particular locality are important for us,”
says Vikas Kataria.
When Jalgaon based RC Bafna opened its
store in Aurangabad, they chose to be situated
on a highway where no other store was located
within a 2 km radius. Today the location is
flooded with jewellery stores. “If a customer
is buying a high ticket product like jewellery,
he or she has some basic expectations. They
want ample parking space, someone to greet
them etc. They want to take their time and
don’t want to rush into it. Our stores are
20,000 – 25,000 sqft big in size – so while
location is important, if the customer finds
experience to be more convenient then he
will travel,” says Sidharth Bafna. For RC Bafna
it has always been about the target audience.
“You can’t think beyond a radius of 5 km. Your
target audience comes from this surrounding.”
Having said that he believes that with high
value products like jewellery, people like to
see different options. “Customers should get
value for their money. When competition is
close by, they have the option of hopping over
to another store and looking at options. But
by the same token, if your service and policies
are not up to the mark, your client is going to
look elsewhere for his jewellery.”
Retail expansion is related to the
vision and growth prospect of a
brand. Sometimes, due to certain
economic and market scenario, a
brand re-strategises its expansion
plan. But, expansion takes place.
In jewellery retail, offline or brickand-mortar
retail still commands
significant revenue share compared
to that of online retail. Because,
jewellery buyers in India still prefer
the touch-and-feel aspect while
loosening their purse strings. So, for
a brand which aspires to grow, retail
expansion through opening stores
makes more sense
Ahammed MP, Malabar Gold &
Diamonds
Personally, we didn’t want to be seen
amidst other jewellers and this is a
trend now. Today, most of the large
format chain stores always look
for a place where other jewellers
are present. A Kalyan always
wants to be next to a Tanishq or a
Joyalukkas. Most people believe in
being in the hub and maybe there is
undue advantage to that but for us
accessibility and parking have been
the main factors
Pratap Kamath, Abharan Timeless
INDIAN JEWELLER | august-september 2019 | 105