Titan Campaign Reignites Natural-Diamond Demand in India

A new campaign from Indian jeweler Titan Company has led to a “resurgence in buyer growth” for natural-diamond jewelry, it said.

During the fiscal fourth quarter that ended March 31, the company reported an 8% increase in buyer growth, versus no change during the first three quarters of the year. The rise is due in part to customers purchasing gold early, ahead of wedding season, in fear prices will continue to climb. However, the retailer has also seen an improvement on the studded front, it said in an analyst call last week.

The resurgence was “aided and enabled by the Festival of Diamonds, which has been a very, very successful campaign, a very fresh campaign, very different from what we had done in the past,” said Arun Narayan, CEO of Titan’s jewelry division. The festival is an annual event from Titan’s Tanishq jeweler brand, where customers gain access to an extensive selection of natural-diamond jewelry at discounted prices.

Titan also continued a jewelry-exchange campaign it started in September and which has brought in more customers. It intends to keep that campaign running, it said.

“It’s very relevant for wedding buyers,” Narayan explained. “It’s also relevant for others who are looking at updating their collection of jewelry. So [we are doing] multiple things to make jewelry accessible and exciting for customers. There is interest in the category…both in diamond-studded jewelry and gold jewelry.”

The jeweler has also launched a new offering, called Hues, which it will sell alongside gold coins, gold jewelry and diamond jewelry. The collection features gold jewelry with natural gemstones.

“Natural gemstones is a completely different world, where there are multiple types of gemstones from different parts of the world, which can be embellished in gold to create a whole new range of jewelry,” Narayan said. Hues will comprise about 200 styles, ranging from approximately $415 to $10,000.

Expanding lab-grown

Titan expects to grow its BeYon brand of synthetic-diamond jewelry, it noted. The company launched its first store in December and plans to open up to 11 more in the coming year in two to three cities, as a test of the market.

“We have done a lot of interaction with customers, and we reached a point where we believe that it is a twin-engine approach to growing adoption in a very low-penetrated diamond market, which is India,” Narayan stated. “Our objective is, very soon, to scale up to the next step of 10 to 12 stores, and then kind of see how that works for us before planning a national launch.”

Valentine’s Day saw good traction for synthetic diamonds, Titan said. However, “nothing we are seeing is very different from what we are seeing in natural diamonds,” Narayan added.

Image: A Tanishq diamond engagement ring. (Titan Company)