Coimbatore-based Emerald Jewel Industry India Ltd, a major supplier of ornaments to the wholesale trade in the sector, is entering the retail business, albeit indirectly.

The company, which has earned the tag of being the largest jewellery manufacturer among the SAARC nations, is entering the retail business through its business associates. The first three showrooms are set to open in Puducherry, Kallakurichi and Coimbatore in the coming weeks.

Speaking to Business Line in Coimbatore today, K. Srinivasan, Managing Director, Emerald Jewel, said the company has 24 tonnes of jewellery manufacturing capacity a year and has clients across the country.

It has opted for serving the retail market through business associates, rather than opening showrooms on its own, as it would enable quicker rollout of retail outlets. Its own resources also would not be locked up.

Jewel One

He said the stores would market exclusively ornaments manufactured by his company under the 'Jewel One’ brand and the store investment/inventory cost would be borne by the business associates. He did not anticipate any conflict of interest between these exclusive stores and those jewellery outlets that also sell their products since the customers would have more than 1.5 lakh designs to choose from his range. It was something akin to Raymond’s exclusive retail outlets co-existing with multi-brand retail showrooms that also sell Raymond products, he said.

Srinivasan said, at present, his company supplied jewellery to wholesalers who in turn served the retailers. It has also started exporting jewellery pieces. The company took to the business associate model to reach out to customers since it had a large manufacturing capacity with four units and close to 3,000 workers in the city. The expansion would help push up capacity utilisation.

Standalone stores

On the number of retail units to be opened through the business associates route, he said he plans to have 15 standalone stores by March end.

Explaining the edge his company enjoyed over competitors, he said the company has tge capability to churn out ornaments in latest designs that were also light weight and were of high quality and did “not compete with the regular jewellers”.

Srinivasan, asked whether he was not entering the retail business at a time when the jewellery retail market appeared to be overcrowded, said he did not share that view. He felt that the Indian jewellery market was huge and “there exists room for a number of players”. He said the present market share of his company was around 2-3 per cent (as supplier to wholesalers). If he was just able to double that, it would mean significant jump in volume and was confident that with “trend-setting designs and unrelenting focus on quality”, he would come up trumps in his new initiative.

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