Tanishq back in business; reopens 40 stores in 35 cities

Tanishq, India’s largest branded jewellery maker and part of Titan Company, on Friday said it has started reopening its retail showrooms and it has so far opened 40 outlets across 35 cities including Bengaluru.

The company had shut down all its 328 retail outlets from March 25 as the country went into lockdown to fight the coronavirus pandemic. "We have started opening our jewellery outlets from May 5 onwards by taking all safety precautions. We have put in place a standard operating procedure (SOP). We have given three days of training to all our showroom staff on how to maintain the safety of customers and the staff," Ajoy Chawla, Chief Executive Officer, Tanishq told DH.

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He said the employees have been given gloves, masks and sanitisers at all the outlets. Thermal scanners have been given to screening all customers walking into the showrooms. Every customer's footwear will be sanitised with the help of a sanitiser tray as they walk into the showrooms. Business will be completely contactless and safe. Every store is audited for social distancing and safety measures, he said.

"Our aim is to build customer trust and ensure that it is completely safe to purchase at Tanishq outlets," Chawla said.

Tanishq has opened stores in 35 cities including Bengaluru, Alwar, Ambala, Cuttack, Guwahati, Bhubaneshwar, Brahmapur, Rohtak, Mohali, Kolhapur, and Udupi among others. By the end of June, it expects to open all its showrooms except in malls. "We are not able to open showrooms in Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Maharashtra and Gujarat at least till the end of May," Chawla said.

Recently, on Akshaya Tritiya day, the company conducted an online sales campaign. During the limited period, it attracted around 1.2 million customers on its website, of which around 9,000 customers made purchases.
Tanishq will also start appointment-based sales. The customers can call nearby showrooms and take appointments before walking into the showrooms, he said.

Titan has four key jewellery brands under its portfolio such as Tanishq, Mia, Carat Lane, and Zoya. It expects to open showrooms under all these brands by the end of June. Tanishq is its largest brand with a retail footprint of 328 outlets, followed by 92 outlets under Carat Lane, 38 Mia and 4 Zoya stores.

Meanwhile, the company is taking a relook at its retail expansion strategy in view of the spread of coronavirus and subsequent lockdown across the country. “Our expansion strategy will not change. However, there will be a moratorium on opening new stores for some time this year,” Chawla said.

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Over the last two years, Tanishq opened 76 outlets.

Revenue for the division declined by 5% due to lost sales in the month of March. Revenue growth of January and February was about 16.5%. The diamond-studded activation in the fourth quarter of 2019-20 did well and wedding jewellery sales continued to be good till the disruption.

For the first quarter of 2020-21 is likely to be subdued due to closure of retail outlets in the entire April and part of May. All its showrooms will be open only by the end of June, he added.