With the onset of the festive season, India based leading diamond jewellery marker, De Beers Forevermark is upbeat about the demand for diamonds in South India.
The brand has already witnessed a huge response post the second wave and compared to the pre-festive season consumption, it is looking forward to the growth of over 35-40 percent over the next few months given the extended wedding season and pent-up demand coinciding with the timely easing of Covid-19 restrictions.
While the brand has 270 doors in India spread over 60 markets, it has around 100 doors in South India currently. It also has 10 exclusive boutique stores in India and plans to increase this to 30 by next year.
De Beers Forevermark in its statement said, “The company is now focused on consolidation in the South as it sees immense potential in the growing number of metros, tier-2 and tier-3 cities in the region, where it partners with select authorized retailers.”
Commenting on the festive season outlook, Sachin Jain, Managing Director, De Beers India, said, “We expect to see the significant rise and rebound in diamond consumption and it has been a big comeback for the industry that has got to do with what diamonds and jewelry mean for the Indian consumer. The market will witness good growth in the upcoming festive & wedding season.”
“While the year 2020 was a big setback due to the pandemic, we see the 2021 festive season to be the strongest one in a decade and expect to perform at 25-30% higher than 2019 which was our best year. The growth trajectory has been very strong for us in the past few years and we are hopeful it will continue. One of the key lessons the pandemic has taught us is to value that which is genuine,” Jain said.
Speaking on the development, Suraj Shantakumar, Director of Kirtilals said, “We see great demand from the younger generation this year as they prefer jewellery to complement their personality and define their style statement. Besides this, we see demand for minimalistic and everyday wear diamonds as the sentiment has now shifted towards wearing diamonds for any occasion including the festive season.”
“While the festive season this year is seeing a large uptick in sales, we will see a dramatic rise in solitaire diamond sales. Our association with De Beers Forevermark has not only been an old and a great relationship for a decade but with patented technology, each De Beers Forevermark diamond is uniquely inscribed and comes with a guarantee that every diamond is genuine, natural, and responsibly sourced,” Vinod Hayagriv, Managing Director & Director, C. Krishniah Chetty Group of Jewellers added.
Further speaking on the development, Joseph Prince, Director of Prince Jewellery Chennai said, “The festive season has always been considered auspicious to buy jewellery. Consumer sentiment has improved dramatically in the recent past and there is pent-up demand and consumers are seeking meaningful purchases. This is an opportunity for the diamond jewellery market to gain a significant share of consumer spending.”