Big brands outshine traditional stores with ad blitz

Mega jewellery store chains seemed to have outshone traditional individual shops this Akshaya Tritiya, thanks to brazen publicity glitz

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Setting foot in any of the big brand jewellery stores in the City on Tuesday was an ordeal, as crowds thronged to make purchases on the auspicious day. While the festival did not fail to bring fat profits to mega jewellery store chains, many of the old-time shops seemed to face the onslaught.

Leaving no stone unturned in advertising their products, the mega chains took vantage advertisement space in almost all localities. Hit by their aggressive marketing, the smaller, individual stores took a back-seat.

Sohan Kumar, who has been running a jewellery store in Gandhi Bazaar for 13 years, said the smaller establishments indeed had to deal with the stiff competition from branded stores.

“As I see it, the problem has been there in the past five years or so. There are customers who have been with us all through and continue to give orders. However, earlier we used to get bigger orders and they have reduced now.”

‘Momentary craze’

The USP of a majority of the mega stores are assurances of no wastage and making charges. The traditional jewellers rubbish these advertisements. A jewellery store owner in a prime locality said, “We have to acknowledge that the sales are obviously affected. But there is hope. This craze will pass. How can anyone offer ornaments on sale without wastage or making charges? If you walk into these stores, you will find that only a small category of their products are offered on discount, while the rest are more expensive than at ordinary stores”.

Traditional wisdom

Their optimism stems from traditional wisdom. However, till things start to look up again for their sales, they have no choice but to fight it out. Since investing in largescale advertising is out of question for them, these smaller shops are looking at survival based on their loyal customers.

Balaji, an old-time jeweller in the City, puts it thus, “What we have going for us is our customer service. Retaining our existing customers is our focus for the time being. We are hoping that the trust of customers which we have earned over the years will help us keep afloat.”
DH News Service