Date:11/08/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/08/11/stories/2008081158330200.htm

Karnataka - Bangalore

New brands are good, but old is gold

Staff Reporter

‘Jewellery is more a form of investment for modern women’

— AFP file PHOTO

Glittering: ‘Garba’ dancers displaying their jewellery.

Bangalore: What kind of jewellery do women want and why? Tough question, but The Art of Jewellery magazine has tried to figure out the answer through a snap survey.

The consumer survey, which points towards some interesting and some commonly-known facts, was commissioned by the magazine to the Pune-based Market Source Consultancy Services, and covered a small sample size of 500 women who had bought jewellery over the past year in the four metropolitan cities besides Hyderabad, Bangalore, Jaipur, Pune, Kochi and Coimbatore.

For the purpose of the survey the women were demarcated into two categories — “traditional” and “modern”. “Traditional” women were defined as those who were homemakers, educated up to graduation level, 30 years and above, with varied monthly incomes, and who were not decision makers as far as jewellery purchase was concerned.

The “modern” women worked, were either graduates or postgraduates or had studied further, and were considered decision makers with respect to jewellery purchase, and fell in the age group of 25 to 30, including those who were recently married. The Indian jewellery market that these 500 women were buying from fell into three categories post survey — everyday wear, special occasion jewellery and wedding jewellery.

The survey showed that among these women, jewellery was more a form of investment rather than adornment, and it seemed like customised jewellery is still a concept that has not caught on, because a large percentage of the women preferred to buy readymade jewellery.

Brands were sought after in some of the survey centres such as Bangalore and Pune, but traditional, standalone stores were still popular choices to shop at. Interestingly enough, it seems that husbands participate more in jewellery-buying decisions, rather than mothers influencing the decisions.

Trust and familiarity takes precedence over price while buying jewellery and impulsive buys are not as frequent as planned purchases.