Abhay Mehta of Mehta Jewellery, Chennai, talks about the power of understanding and responding to the consumer psyche to propel growth.
Tell us more about your family business. Your ancestors migrated from Palanpur, Gujarat, to Chennai, more than a century ago to become successful diamond jewellery retailers.
The Mehta family settled in the south of India in Chennai way back in 1910 and started the business in the name of Bapalal and Company. At age 17, my father Surendra Mehta began to study the nuances of the diamond business.
We started the diamond jewellery business in 1932 by importing rough diamonds which were then cut, polished, and exported. In those days Chennai was a predominantly gold jewellery market, but it had a good potential for the diamond segment to grow.
In 1991, my father Surendrabhai started his independent business Mehta Jewellery. He was renowned for his expertise in diamond selection. He had set the standards in the diamond trade, standards which others strive to emulate.
Tell us more about the Chennai market.
Chennai is the sixth most populous city in India; it is a food capital, an emerging IT centre and an established global automobile manufacturing hub. Chennai produces one vehicle every three minutes beating Detroit at its game. It is a progressive city and welcomes international brands with open arms. But the city has a mind of its own. It does not follow an established pattern.
In South India, the regional jewellery players have an edge because they have been able to establish a trustworthy relationship with the local consumer, and they understand the local customs, traditions, and consumer needs much better.
When buying jewellery, familiarity and trust are the most important factors for customers here, as they perceive jewellery as a store of value. An average consumer will part her money with a jeweller who is known to her.
So how did your father find a foothold in Chennai?
Chennai respects individuality, and my father understood the cultural traditions of the city very well. He always dressed in his trademark white dhoti, kurta, and Gandhi topi. A well-known personality known for his social work and philanthropy; he was regarded as an authentic person rooted to his tradition.
Palanpur in Gujarat was his janmabhoomi (birthplace) and Chennai his karmabhoomi (the land of one’s workplace). He spoke chaste Tamil and though he dressed differently was accepted by the customers as one of their own.
I am born and brought up in Chennai and have inherited the traditions and values of Gujarat. I am thus a dual citizen. This duality has given me a better understanding to understand the market dynamics and the consumer psyche. More than half of our sales are come from local Tamilians, and the remaining comes from consumers of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, other neighboring states.
It’s interesting to note that some of the owners of leading Chennai jewellery stores of Chennai are the natives of Andhra Pradesh and Kerala. These states were a part of the Madras Presidency and therefore these jewelers could adapt themselves to the local culture seamlessly.
A southern consumer is does not compromise on quality of diamonds or gold jewellery. Your comments.
That’s true. A Chennai consumer would rather buy a smaller diamond of good quality than invest in a large gemstone of inferior quality. She will never buy a diamond with black spots as it’s considered inauspicious.
I am a graduate gemmologist from GIA and have learnt the skill of identifying doshams (flaws, black spots) from my father, who was skilled in sorting the best diamonds.
Our retail journey started with diamond jewellery and as our reputation and goodwill grew, it attracted loyal consumers. Soon we added gold jewellery in our store and business grew at a faster rate. Today, half of our sales come from gold jewellery.
Did the pandemic hit your business?
Yes, business was adversely impacted. We had to therefore shut down one of our showrooms at Khader Nawaz Khan Road.
We connected with our consumers through video calls during the pandemic. Though we do not have an e-commerce enabled website, we created an online catalogue 10 years ago. It mentions the prices in Indian rupees as well as US dollars with all the specifications and high-res images. This has helped our consumer discover and shortlist products at the click of a mouse from their homes.
We have realised that the cost of online business is quite high, and the conversion rates are very low. When a consumer visits an offline store, she has made up her mind to buy jewellery. As a result, she is more likely to walk out of the store with a piece of jewellery that fits within her budget.
We have observed that consumers on a video call or while browsing a website take a longer time to buy as they have not yet made up their mind. We need to adopt an omnichannel model going forward. We will invest in creating an infrastructure and hire talented professionals for our digital foray.
Fortunately for us, we have three new entrants in our family business. Two of my sons and a nephew are in their twenties. They are techno savvy digital natives full of new ideas and enthusiasm. Growth therefore is an imperative. We are gearing up strengthen our offline presence and embrace digital transformation within our company by building a strong team.