India 2012: Loose diamonds/jewellery retailing hub

Update 20/3/2010: We have launched India's First hybrid model of diamond retailing by an independent jeweller. Its a momentous occasion as we are living a dream we have talked about in this very post. Find out more here.

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This is the second post in the Blue Ocean Opportunities in Indian gems and Jewellery sector series. My first post is here.

This post has various inspirations. Medical tourism, e-commerce and sramana mitra's posts on India 2020, a query from a finnish visitor to our blog, india's unique position as a diamond processing hub. I know it looks like the opening of a thriller from a future Tom cruise's science fiction movie. So hold on to see the outcome.

For all the naysayers who think Internet is still in its infancy in India, this can be a perfect antidote. An e-commerce initiative not just for Indians but the whole world visiting India.

Imagine a certain Mr. Hakkinen from Finland plans to pop the question with an engagement ring. He logs online and chooses from thousands of diamonds online before settling for a 1.5 carat , asscher cut, fancy yellow , SI2, ideal cut . Not just that , he also orders a setting /style of the engagement ring. He chooses the delivery option of faraway India. No his girlfriend is not Indian, infact, He is visiting delhi for a business trip and plans to mix some personal shopping with it. As he chooses New Delhi airport among various options within the city for the delivery of his ring.

At the New Delhi airport which has been upgraded for the recently concluded Common Wealth games in 2010, he walks into a swanky store to pick up the ring, gift wrap it and also the diamond certificate that comes with it.

Mr. Hakkinen is assured of the best priced diamonds in the world. Thanks to india's dominance in polishing 90% of the world's small diamonds. India enjoys a crucial position in the world diamond supply chain. With 9 0ut of 11 diamonds in the world polished here. These diamonds are then shipped everywhere in the world. Mr. Hakkinen knows this and thats why no other international site (bluenile.com, abazias.com or amazon.com) offers to deliver loose diamonds or their jewellery in India. In fact the diamonds are priced at atleast 20% less than these websites. Enough to pay back for the airlines ticket. And at the heart of this reasoning lies the logic of making that purchase.

This can be a reality for millions of visitors coming into India as tourists, business persons, patients etc. In each of these cases a trip to India can be redeemed for more.

Related Articles:

Blue Ocean opportunites in Indian Jewellery Industry

Blue Ocean Opportunities in the Indian Jewellery Industry.

Blue Ocean Strategy : A book written by W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne has had an indelible impression on me. This book has shown a new way to look at competition and is relevant to any industry across the world and across time.
An excerpt from the book sums up what this strategy is about(Taken from Hubspot):

"The only way to beat the competition is to stop trying to beat the competition. In red oceans, the industry boundaries are defined and accepted, and the competitive rules of the game are known. In blue oceans, competition is irrelevant because the rules of the game are waiting to be set. ...The companies caught in the red ocean followed a conventional approach, racing to beat the competition by building a defensible position within the existing industry order. The creators of blue oceans, surprisingly, didn't use the competition as their benchmark. ...Instead of focusing on beating the competition, they focus on making the competition irrelevant by creating a leap in value for buyers and your company, thereby opening up new and uncontested market space. …Value innovation is based on the view that market boundaries and industry structure are not 'given' and can be reconstructed by the actions and beliefs of industry players. …To fundamentally shift the strategy canvas of an industry, you must begin by reorienting your strategic focus from competitors to alternatives, and from customers to non-customers of an industry. As you shift your strategic focus from current competition to alternatives and non-consumers, you gain insight into how to redefine the problem the industry focuses on and thereby reconstruct buyer value elements that reside across industry boundaries"

Similarly, Indian Jewellery industry is huge and the competition is fierce. There are over 300,000 retail jewellers in India. In Pitampura, New Delhi alone, there are more than 60 Jewellers. Step into one and you would find hardly any differentiation on product, policies and after sales support. And thus goes the story in almost all kinds of trading/retailing activity anywhere.

Breaking from the competition is what Blue Ocean Strategy is about. And there are umpteen opportunities.In a series of post starting with this one I will present few opportunities that I have uncovered. I didn't create any I merely identified them and tried to make sense out of these and put in front of the readers of this blog.

Opportunity: Lending Jewellery to Fashionistas.

Today keeping pace with the fashion is a luxury only the very rich can afford. India has a booming middle class who have a growing disposable income and a penchant for fine things. This disposable income is enough to satisfy needs for perfumes, clothes or shoes but jewelry being among the more expensive possessions cannot be bought new every year or every time fashion changes. Since not many can afford to get this fashionable but how about renting fashion.

So to satisfy this urge some businesses have come up quite an innovative solution.
Take for instance, Bag, Borrow or Steal a US. based website which lends designer handbags, purses and jewelry. The website charges a nominal fee and allow user to rent Gucci, Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Coach, Prada, Fendi and more designer handbags. Same goes for jewellery. There are a few more in this space like from bags to riches and bling yourself.

So now an expensive product was converted to a service, and a huge market waiting to be tapped.

Related Articles:
Bridal Jewellery on rent

India 2012: Loose Diamonds/Jewellery retailing hub