CHENNAI: Jewellers had reason to cheer on Wednesday when customers flocked their stores to buy token jewellery on the auspicious occasion of ‘Akshaya Tritiya’. This comes even as sales and sentiment amongst jewellers have been running low post-demonetisation, which impacted jewellery sales on this occasion last year. “We performed well this Akshaya Tritiya when compared to previous years. The growth was much higher than expected and jewellery sales growth was also very encouraging,” said Sandeep Kulhalli, senior vice-president (marketing and retail) at Tanishq Jewellery.
“The overall customer sentiment was quite positive in metros. At Tanishq, we also saw customers buying wedding jewellery and there was good pick-up from non-metro markets in line with our expectations.”
Gold prices were higher. Yet, that did not dampen the festive spirit of customers. “We are enthused by the sales on the occasion of Akshaya Tritiya across the country,” said TS Kalyanaraman, chairman and managing director, Kalyan Jewellers. “The momentum of customers has only increased during the day. We have witnessed over 25% growth in sales for the same period last year. The price of gold seemingly has not dampened the spirit of the occasion. The positive triggers, including better consumer sentiment, have helped.”
The auspicious timing was between 6 am and 12 pm and many customers rushed to stores during these hours to buy gold. The day being a working day, the number of people visiting stores increased in the evening. Among those who visited in the evening were a number of people who were not very particular about the festival, but rather were hoping to make the most of the attractive discounts.
“I am not very concerned about buying gold on a particular day,” explained K Smitha. “I was keen on buying gold for my daughter’s wedding and because there were some good offers, I thought I should take advantage. It is a bonus that it is considered lucky to buy jewels today.” For small-time jewellers, who do not offer big discounts to lure customers, it remained a dull spell. “It (Akshaya Tritiya) doesn’t make much of a difference anymore,” said Sunil Kumar, who is the owner of a jewellery store tucked away in one of the bylanes in T Nagar. “Apart from regular customers, I did not get too many orders. And we are small people and how can we have the same number of designs and discounts that a big store has?”