Now your jewellery too has a shelf life!

chandigarh: as consumers get more and more aware, the jewellery industry has also, like most other industries, become subject to the vagaries of the global market. it too faces competition and has to innovate to stay ahead. and, no more will the traditional design that has been around for decades do; just as in apparel, in jewellery too women are now asking; what’s new? “jewellery has a shelf life of about a year or two here in the city.in metros the shelf life is shorter, but in toto, the entire shelf life of a piece of jewellery has shrunk remarkably,� says rahul gupta of ravoy gems, sector 9. “people come in every week and want to know what the new designs are,� says munish kapoor of tanishq, sector 17. the store introduces new designs every month regularly. even at oyzterbay, just about six months old in the city, there are about 800 designs on display. says upasana jain of oyzterbay, “people want an element of novelty each time they visit the store.� and gupta sums it up best when he says, “jewellery is now viewed as a fashion accessory and just as people don’t want to repeat clothes every year, neither do they want to be seen wearing the same jewellery.� thus, all the stores offering branded jewellery introduce new designs every month, and woo the customers in n number of ways. tanishq, for example, offered discounts for a short period in august, which it claims was to celebrate the brand’s fifth anniversary. competition, however, feels it was to dispose of old designs. offering discounts in this segment is also a relatively new concept. says gupta, “for example, de beers holds an annual designing contest and advertises extensively (which increases their sales). the arrow millennium pendant which was a winning design was thus picked up by many people, but this happens only till the hype remains and till the next contest, because once a new design wins then that will be advertised and the old one has no value, so instead of getting stuck with it, a store would obviously like to offer a discount but sell all pieces while the going’s good.� even maintaining catalogues or publishing pamphlets (tanishq had a very impressive one for its new range aria) or even going in for web promotions, contests etc are all relatively new concepts. the other element that has added to jewellery now having an extremely short shelf life is the fact that more and more design institutes across the country are churning out qualified designers who understand the market and contemporary tastes. while ravoy sources from jaipur and surat, oyzterbay’s designing happens at a central point while manufacturing happens at five locations. tanishq’s designing takes place at bangalore. all stores use fresh design graduates for new ideas.