24 | JNA July/August 2022 SPECIAL FEATURES According to Hong Kong-based retailer Chow Tai Fook Jewellery Group Ltd, affordable jewellery for daily use has become one of the company’s new growth drivers over the past two years. The pandemic also resulted in changes in customer behaviours. “Consumers turned to online shopping more than ever during the prolonged pandemic. They have become more accustomed to purchasing jewellery online and smart retailing was on the rise,” a spokesman for the group revealed. Sales of its smart retail business rose 62.7 per cent during its fiscal year ending March 2022, driven mainly by e-commerce and smart retail apps. In terms of sales volume, its smart retail business accounted for 17.5 per cent of its mainland China operations, up from 14.7 per cent a year ago. Chow Tai Fook focused on exploring new online channels and introducing popular and exclusive products. The company joined online platforms Douyin and Pinduoduo to bolster its smart retail business in China in FY2022. Consumers are also assigning new meaning to jewellery and are drawn to pieces that resonate with them and their experiences. Sustainability and traceability have likewise found steady footing in the jewellery trade, with customers increasingly wanting to know where their diamonds or gemstones came from and in which conditions they were mined. Whether the diamondminer or jewellerymanufacturer is involved in initiatives that promote social responsibility and environmentalism also influences buying decisions. Chow Tai Fook is implementing what it calls a differentiation strategy to cater to customers’ diverse needs and preferences. Its T MARK diamond brand, for instance, offers customisation services using its patented technology to ensure that every T MARK diamond is authentic and traceable. “Given the rising demand for highly personalised jewellery in FY2022, we added a private customisation service, named T MARK PRIVATE, to our digital jewellery customisation platform, D-ONE,” revealed the company. “This exclusive feature is offered with limited availability, allowing customers to personalise the serial numbers on their T MARK diamonds to give them a unique meaning.” Riding on the online retail revolution is luxury jeweller Bulgari, which opened a flagship store on Alibaba Group’s Tmall Luxury Pavilion in April this year to further expand its reach in China’s digital retail space. Bulgari is the latest addition to an expanding list of luxury jewellers that are opening stores on Tmall. This includes Boucheron, Cartier, Chaumet, Dior, Gucci and Van Cleef & Arpels, among others. Data from Alibaba Group’s financial report for fiscal year 2022 ending March 31, 2022, showed that more than 124 million annual active consumers each spent over RMB10,000 (around US$1,500) on Taobao and Tmall in FY2022. This is a clear indication of how luxury jewellers are recognising the incredibly significant role of digital sales platforms in the future of jewellery retail. J. Michael Evans, president and director of Alibaba Group, was quoted as saying that Alibaba is continuously upgrading its digital capabilities to meet the diversified needs of Chinese consumers who are relying more and more on online consumption. We are leaning into things that are enduring. One of the great things about the jewellery category is that it has tended to perform well in recessionary periods because there are still important and meaningful events that customers want to celebrate. – Virginia C. Drosos, CEO and director at Signet Jewelers Ltd
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