The Hindu Business Line : Speaking a new lingo

THE city of Chennai has been witness to brand wars of a different kind over the last one year. Not between the cola giants or the fairness cream makers but among the city's very own jewellery and sari stores. Players such as Nalli, Kumaran and GR Thangamaligai (GRT), which have served generations of loyal customers, have suddenly felt the need to reach out to them through advertising and tell them what they have on offer.

These players are willing to spend anything between Rs 5 lakh and Rs 3 crore on advertising and brand building. And unlike earlier, when they only advertised during festivals, they now want to interact with their consumers throughout the year.

While brands such as RmKV put up hoardings all over the city to talk about their Hansadamyanti and Aishwaryapookal collection of wedding saris, jewellery major GRT has been pushing its Kalyana Collection (wedding collection) and its platinum and diamond collections. Similarly, Prince Jewellery is all over the city with its Eterna Diamond Collection, as is Mehta Jewellery with its coloured stone collection. On the other hand, a brand such as Nalli, which never really felt the need to advertise all these years, is also in the fray telling consumers that it is more than just a silk sari brand; that it also caters to the younger generation, with its range of casual saris, dress material and ready-to-wear apparel.

While Princeson Jose, Managing Director, Prince Jewellery, says he has used advertising for each new collection he launched ever since he set up shop in 1983, Tushar Mehta, Partner, Mehta Jewellery, feels that the changing consumer preferences have made it mandatory for retailers to think differently. "We now have to address a new group of customers who have never bought jewellery before. Previously, jewellery was considered serious shopping and was done strictly under elders' supervision, but now with the emergence of nuclear families and huge disposable incomes, jewellery shopping is looked at as one of the many spending options."

K. Vishwananthan, Managing Director, RmKV, says it is high time the traditional players evolved. "The traditional retailers have to evolve according to customer requirements, and if they don't they will disappear."

He says a retailer has to have a clear USP in place, considering the large segment of floating population which is not necessarily loyal to a particular brand. "One has to advertise to keep the magic alive and ensure that he is in the consumer's mind."

Says a Chennai-based retail expert, "The traditional players have a great challenge at hand. They have a strong connect with the older generation, but they have to get it right with the younger generation, which has a huge disposable income, is adventurous and is willing to experiment. When it comes to buying a sari, they are willing to try a new entrant like Moksha which has a more contemporary collection instead of going to Nalli or Kumaran just because their mother or grandmother shopped there."

"A dialogue with the youngsters has become imperative," says M. L. Raghavan, Client Services Director, JWT, which handles the advertising of GRT. "Fifteen years ago GRT wouldn't have ever thought about doing a campaign on Valentine's, but now we have to talk to that segment as they have huge disposable incomes," he adds

Brand positioning

With more new players coming into the fray, traditional brands are looking for a clear-cut brand positioning. RmKV, for instance, has positioned itself as a wedding sari destination. "Our strategy has been to make a difference to tradition," says Ashok Vidyasagar, Group Business Director, Mudra, the agency in charge of RmKV's advertising. "When the market was leveraging family and tradition, we decided to position ourselves as a wedding destination. We decided to target the young bride who respects tradition but doesn't ritualise it," he adds.

Similarly, Nalli through its recent campaigns has tried to blend tradition with modernity and convey that it is more than just a silk sari brand.

On the other hand, for a jewellery retailer such as GRT which caters to a wide range of consumers, there is a need to talk in a different language, says Raghavan of JWT. "It is constantly required to articulate strengths as the consumers have a number of other options"

In order to tom-tom their strengths most jewellery and sari retailers have also started branding their collections, which they never did earlier. GRT, for instance, has launched a series of collections such as Maya, a diamond cluster collection made to look like a solitaire and the Kalyana Collection, which is targeted at brides-to-be.

Similarly, the sari retailers are now talking about the unique saris they have on offer. Tulsi Silks, for instance, brings out a catalogue every year, which showcases its latest collections.

On the other hand, RmVK splashed its Cinderella Pavadai (a full-length skirt for children) campaign all over the city during the festival season. "We realised that tradition has to be made relevant to the current generation. We therefore, decided to weave the almost-dying pavadai around the story of Cinderella to evoke excitement. And it worked! The interest in pavadai has suddenly gone up," says Vishwanathan of RmKV.

Promotions

Apart from advertising and brand building, these traditional retailers have also embarked on many promotional exercises. Tulsi Silks, for instance, gives out copies of Business Line with stick-ons of its latest collection of saris at airport check-in counters at the Chennai and Hyderabad and at leading hotels in Chennai. And all those who visit the shop with the stick-on get a free gift.

Suresh Parekh, Managing Partner, Tulsi Silks, says this exercise has been extremely beneficial. "We cater to a niche, upmarket audience and this promotion has helped us a lot in attracting greater footfalls into the store."

On the other hand, Mehta Jewellery has started promoting plays. "We usually have contests around the play in bookstores such as Landmark and the winners are given a discount coupon to shop at our store. We also keep in touch with our existing customers by sending out mailers about our new offers and products once in two-three months," says Mehta.

Retail strategy

While organised retail in India is fast moving towards malls, most of these traditional retailers still prefer to be on the high street. G.R. Ananthapadmanabhan, Partner, GRT, says jewellery buying is still considered a serious investment. Therefore, the presence of a jewellery shop in a mall doesn't make much business sense as people mostly visit a mall for entertainment and not for serious shopping.

Agreeing with Ananthapadmanabhan, Mehta of Mehta Jewellery adds, "The best jewellery stores in the international market are on the high street."

Vishwanathan of RmKV says that T. Nagar, home to most of the leading sari and jewellery stores of Chennai, is like a mall itself. "Once the customers come here they have a choice between RmKV, Nalli, Kumaran and Pothy,s if they were to shop for saris. Similarly, when it comes to buying jewellery, they have options in the form of GRT, Prince and Vummidi. Does any mall have that kind of space to accommodate all these brands under one roof?" he questions.

Trying to straddle the transition of being modern with a traditional flavour, the traditional sari and jewellery retailers of Chennai are going all out to become top-of-mind among their consumers.

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