The demand for fashion jewellery has not been affected by the current economic slowdown. In fact, the demand is on a rise in India. "The growth has been spurred by increasing trend of gifting in India, especially during festivals and special occasions," said Lars Schmidt, managing director of Swarovski Consumer Goods Business, Southeast Asia and India.
“The fashion jewellery market is witnessing double digit growth in India and more people want to gift affordable jewellery for special occasions. Our company scores on the specialised craftsmanship and cutting edge technology in crystals, which no other company has on offer. The real growth for us is coming from the large metro cities, but eventually we expect healthy growth from smaller towns and tier-II cities in India through the online segment,” Schmidt told THE WEEK.
Schmidt predicts that the future of fashion jewellery market will be driven by the millennials who are increasingly becoming exposed to new trends on the internet. “The millennials have high brand awareness about new jewellery designs especially in the fashion jewellery segment. Many are also driven towards crystal figurines that we have on offer. Currently, we have 45 exclusive mono brand stores and have our presence in 120 multi brand stores for which we have tied up with different retail partners such as Shoppers Stop. We have these presence mainly in the metro cities of India,” added Schmidt.
He observed that India is a very important market for the company and they consider it to be one of the most important market in the Southeast Asian region. The Swarovski Group specialises in cyrstals, including crystal jewellery, watches and crystal figurines. The 120-year-old company was founded in the town of Wattens in Austria by Daniel Swarovski, in 1895. Swarovski was a Bohemian jeweller, who patented an electric cutting machine that cuts crystal more precisely than by hand.
