JNA Awards 2012 Jewellery Industry Best Practices

60 JNA AWARDS 2012 Plukka (HK) Ltd Leveraging the power of social media and online marketing, Plukka (HK) Ltd is slowly changing the dynamics of jewellery trade and manufacturing. Launched less than a year ago by partners Jai Waney and Joanne Ooi, the Hong Kong-based e-Retailer is bringing the concept of group buying to a larger audience. Through its website, Plukka.com, the company offers original jewellery to customers, giving them the added benefit of made-to-order in-season designs at reduced prices. It sells jewellery items at significantly lower prices on the condition that a minimum number of customers would make the same purchase. The larger the buyer group, the lower the price of the item will be. And because the company is web-based, buyers get to access Plukka’s offerings 24/7. The result is a business model without brick-and- mortar stores or inventory, which is challenging conventional retail. “Plukka brings the retail consumer an unprecedented combination of extreme creativity and unbeatable pricing on finished designer fine jewellery through a revolutionary just-in-time manufacturing and social shopping process, which eliminates the intermediary cost layers associated with traditional retail,” said Elle Hill, director of business development at Plukka. “Our overarching objective is to become the leading online retailer of fine designer jewellery, globally.” Unique business model Plukka’s patented social shopping process has introduced two innovations. Hill explained: “First, we have bolted the group-buying process directly on to the manufacturing process to eliminate the guesswork associated with traditional retailing. Second, we pass on the economies of scale associated with increased manufacturing quantities through sliding scale prices, where prices drop in real time as more people commit to buy the same item.” Category: Industry Innovation of the Year – Retail Country/Region: Hong Kong