The second edition of the India Gem & Jewellery Machinery Expo (IGJME) at the Surat International Exhibition and Convention Centre, Sarsana, has larger and more diverse exhibitor participation than last year, Nirav Bhansali, Convener, National Exhibitions, GJEPC said while speaking at the inauguration of the show this morning.
The first session focused on the robust support that the Gujarat government has hitherto given to manufacturing industries across the state and invited the trade to participate in the Vibrant Gujarat Summit that was taking place in January 2015. The presentation was made by D.R. Parmar, District Industries Commissioner of the Gujarat government at Surat. He outlined how the state government had enabled the establishment of new industries, hallmarking and testing centres, training centres and institutes and also provided information on the different schemes related to the gems & jewellery sector for promotion, development and R & D. A lively Q & A followed.
The second seminar of the day was presented by Deepak Tulsian, Head-Jewelry, eBay India. Tulsian gave an overview of the growth in Internet commerce in India, and said that despite the significant rise in numbers of those buying online, jewellery was still relatively low down on the list, accounting for only 1% of all transactions on eBay India, though in terms of value it was 2%.
Tulsian also discussed the pros and cons of setting up one’s own website vis-a-vis using a shopping portal for internet sales. He pointed out that many offline retailers who set up websites failed to see its relation with offline sales. They don’t realise that many of the transactions that take place at stores are to customers who had researched the product online before making the final purchase offline. “You must build up trust in your brand, for only then will there be an increase in the ticket sizes and regularity with which jewellery is purchased online.”
In the Panel Discussion after the presentation, Janak Mistry of Lexus and Vipul Sutariya of Dharmanandan Diamonds joined Tulsian in replying to questions from the moderator, Samir Joshi of IDI as well as from the audience.
Pic Cap: Panelists Janak Mistry, Deepak Tulsian and Vipul Sutariya (l tor)