Jignesh Mehta, Founder & Managing Director of Divine Solitaires, comes with diverse exposure across various functions that include successful Line Management, Product & Portfolio Management, Marketing, and Strategic Alliances apart from Sales and Distribution in his career span of 20 years in the diamond industry
In an interview with Rough&Polished, Jignesh, who also heads the company’s marketing and branding initiatives, expresses immense confidence in the diamond industry; but feels that companies should focus more on consumer preferences and concerns, besides manufacturing, wholesale sales and trading.
How has Divine Solitaire progressed in the last few years in a crowded diamond industry; and what steps do you take to retain its reputation built over the years?
Divine Solitaires is the first solitaire brand in India and began its journey in the 2006.
Since its inception, the company has maintained a healthy double-digit growth rate. The company has a nationwide network of 109 Partner Jewellers in 65 cities including some major retail chain stores as our authorized retailers. In the last two years, the growth rate has been 35%.
We have pioneered many firsts in the Diamond Solitaires segment-such as nationwide Standard & Transparent Price List; a Buy back and Upgrade policy, a Plan Your Dream Solitaire scheme, a Solitaire Price Index which is published in many national newspapers every month, a Quality Guarantee Certificate complying with 123 parameters and an exclusive Divine Solitaires lounge.
These initiatives are well appreciated and have reinforced our reputation over the years.
What does Divine Solitaire offer more than any other jewellery manufacturer? In other words, why would a buyer chose Divine Solitaires to buy his/her jewellery when he has multiple choices?
All the diamonds offered by Divine Solitaires are standardized to ensure that a Divine Solitaire is the brightest and best in its class and certifications. All our diamonds have the Hearts and Arrows cut.
International laboratories test and grade a diamond on 40 parameters and issue a certificate which is an analytical report. We, at Divine Solitaires, issue not just a certificate, but a Quality Guarantee Certificate. Each and every diamond we sell undergoes rigorous testing on the basis of 123 parameters.
Importantly, our pricing is very transparent; we have a nationwide Standard and Transparent Price List. We are the only brand that issues a price list every month.
Your thoughts on lab grown diamonds? Do you consider them as ‘competition’ or a ‘threat’ to your business?
We consider lab grown diamonds are a competition but not a threat. At Divine Solitaires we focus on the special aspects of natural diamonds and their intrinsic appeal and inherent attributes. You can't make a natural diamond that is billions of years old and therefore is rare. Synthetics are not rare and have no enduring value; they are two separate products and operate in different worlds.
With incidents of ‘mixing’ of lab grown / synthetics with natural diamonds making disturbing news, how do you perceive this affecting consumer confidence in diamonds per se?
The real battle is for the hearts and minds of consumers. From here going forward, who is going to create the stronger emotional connection to their product will matter a lot. Natural diamonds have had a massive head start. They have been around for a long time. We do not perceive the confidence of consumers getting affected in any way with the advent of lab created diamonds.
In fact, we firmly believe branded natural diamonds are the future!
Though right now only small synthetics are seen to be mixed with natural stones, investing in diamonds, especially Solitaires, may take a hit if this trend continues. Your thoughts?
Investing in diamonds is not likely to take a hit. Diamonds are rare. It is estimated that by 2020, all the diamond deposits in the mines will get depleted. Diamond is therefore a prudent investment. The best time to acquire them is now.
Also, for a layman, as an investment vehicle gold is preferred as it’s easy to convert to ready cash if needed. Does diamond have good resale value? Do you offer buy-back offering prices as on selling day?
Diamonds, especially solitaires are fast emerging as an alternative asset class. Over the last five years, the investment in diamonds has fetched more returns than gold, silver and equities. Notwithstanding the current softening of diamond prices, this trend is expected to continue.
Divine Solitaires offers a uniform buy-back and upgrade policy on a pan-India basis. A customer who has bought a diamond from Mumbai can sell or get it exchanged from our Partner Jeweller in any city. E.g. Delhi, too. The best part is you can buyback or upgrade at the rates prevailing on the day of transaction which would benefit customer if the prices have appreciated.
Prices of diamond, related to complexities of the many Cs and other factors, is too cumbersome for a lay person. Gold prices is known to everyone, so a buyer would rather invest in gold rather than diamond. Your take on this…
I agree that the prices of diamonds are not standardized. Gold relatively is a simple product-the main assessment of gold is in the number of karats.
Diamond price is influenced by 123 parameters and is not simple to evaluate. However, we have made the prices standardized and transparent by publishing the nationwide Standard and Transparent Price List based on the diamond size and characteristics such as 4 Cs so the customer is not confused. Moreover, a Solitaire Price Index is developed by us to give consumers idea about the price trends of diamond to make it investor friendly. Also the product itself is standardized by each diamond having the exclusive Hearts and Arrows cut.
In fact, we are the only diamond solitaires company to issue a price list every month. We have also developed a unique mobile application based on cutting edge technology that makes it easier for a customer to check the prevailing prices at the click of a button.
Your thoughts on the current situation of the Indian diamond industry... It is reported that cutting centres are in dire state. How has this affected the domestic jewellery manufacturer in terms of sourcing polished stones?
The industry is battling feeble demand of polished diamonds in key markets including the US, the Middle East, China, etc.
Industry has not been paying much attention to consumer preferences and remains largely unorganized. Consumer concerns are not being met. That is why the industry is facing such difficult times. Also not many people in the Industry are really able to add value to the end consumer. The people are more focused on manufacturing, wholesale sales, trading, and less on understanding consumer needs.
Some issues beset the industry such as cut-throat competition, high credit lines, and too many suppliers who sell at lower prices even sometimes making losses which is very unhealthy. For the reasons outlined, industry is facing such difficult times.
One hears mixed reports about jewellery sales in the domestic jewellery market during Dhanteras/Diwali this year. What are your views? With Wedding season round the corner, how do you see this panning out for the domestic sector?
At Divine Solitaires the solitaires diamond jewellery sales has seen a very healthy uptake and demand. This is a result of not only decreased price of gold and the festive seasonal uptrend but also our focus on meeting consumer needs.
With the approaching wedding season, we expect the demand and sales to show an upswing with simultaneous increase in awareness as an investment option.
Aruna Gaitonde, Editor-in-Chief of Asian Bureau, Rough & Polished
