DTC’s ‘Diamond Season’ Drives Diamond Jewelry Sales Across India

The DTC’s “Diamond Season”, an all-India promotional program that concluded with an awards night at Mumbai yesterday, has boosted the already robust diamond jewelry sales in India. Speaking at the function, Prasad Kapre, Business Director, DTC, India, said that during this period the participating jewelers in the western region recorded a 32 percent increase in sales, with Mumbai registering the highest growth - 39 percent.

Overall diamond jewelry sales across the country are expected to register a 20-25 percent increase compared to last year, states Paresh Das, Sales & Marketing Manager, DPS. According to him, “On average, the jewelers who join such promotional schemes report 7-10 percent incremental sales as a result of their participation.”

Over 150 jewelers from across the country in cities like Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Chennai, Hyderabad, and Bangalore, had signed up for the promotion. During the campaign, DTC invited TV celebrity couple, Tina and Hussein, winners of the popular live dance competition 'Nach Baliye 2', to visit participating showrooms across the country.

This is the 4th year that the Diamond Season campaign is being held. Previously, the campaign coincided with the Indian wedding season in December and January, centered largely on brands. However, this year the focus was on generic promotions. Says Das, “This helps us to widen the base of participating jewelers.”

DTC had launched another generic promotion, ‘Gift-a-Diamond’, during the Indian festival season in October 2006, and this ran in tandem with the Diamond Season. The spend on the ‘Gift a Diamond’ TV ads and the Rs 20 – 30 million ($454,000 – $680,000) spent on print promotion during the Diamond Season have added to the already significant ‘diamond noise’ and had a positive impact on consumers. Says Deepak Bhatia, Sales Manager, Western India, “These generic programs are helping create an even bigger consumer base for diamonds.”

Among those honored at the awards night in Mumbai were:

• TBZ – The Original, Notandas & Sons and Ghanasingh Signature in the Best Showrooms for Diamond Season category;
• Popley Eternal as the Best Gift-a-Diamond Showroom;
• Popley La Classique for Best Window Display;
• Antara Jewellery for Best Initiative in Diamond Season;
• Mahesh Notandass for Best Shopping Experience;
• Rajkumar Jewellers for Best In-store Display.

The three new awards for Best Salespersons were won by Mukesh Sain of Kundan Jewellers, Nehal Mewada of TBZ Nirmal Zaveri, and Bhavna Makhija of Anmol Jewellers. Similar awards were distributed to the winners in other participating cities.