Tanishq tales. We can maximise the opportunity with our different brands, says Tanishq CEO Ajoy Chawla

Mia was born as a sub-brand of Tanishq and remains so; you will have Mia in Tanishq stores and in some Mia stores you will have a complementary offering of Tanishq. The customer sees Mia as a younger arm of Tanishq, not as an independent brand, targeting Gen Z, for their everyday needs. It’s much more about fashion and style, a lot more 14 carat jewellery; so, what started off as a product line has evolved as a sub-brand and customers see it as such and not as an independent one. In a Tanishq store we may not be able to showcase the full offerings of Mia, maybe just 50 per cent. Mia is largely a sub-₹75,000 offering.

The fact that it’s a Tanishq brand is good enough. The Mia customer is not necessarily looking for trust and assurance from Tatas, whereas the Tanishq customer is.

Zoya is an independent brand. A handful of large Tanishq stores will have a Zoya gallery; which is a shop-in-shop, it will have a separate ambience to it. The product language and customer profile are certainly different; the brand idea is different. It has not been conceived as a sub-brand. In a Zoya store we won’t have a Tanishq. Zoya’s competitive set is different, designs are vastly different and it doesn’t target the mainstream customer. It’s catering to a more internationally exposed customer. Zoya designs compares itself to a Bulgari or a Cartier; the mindset is like that. It may draw inspiration from Indian stories, but it’s a little more about Western sensibilities; It’s got an Indian origin, Indian inclusiveness, but the design stories and themes are more eclectic and spread between Western and Indian themes just like many Western brands are also drawing inspiration from Indian stories as do Cartier and Bulgari. Zoya has got design inspirations from Banaras as well as Italian architecture. It’s more global in its outlook.

Zoya has ten stores up and running, in Mumbai and Delhi, the Chennai one is getting ready inside the Taj Coromandel. There’s one in Hyderabad and one coming up soon in Kolkata. Overseas not yet. Zoya is present in a couple of international stores as a gallery — in Dallas and Chicago. And a small presence in New Jersey.

Prices have been volatile and gone up significantly, in fact, they doubled in the last five years. With so many geopolitical uncertainties in the world, central banks have been buying up gold. My outlook is that gold prices are unlikely to come down; there may be marginal corrections. It may go up or remain range bound. This is the new normal.

Gold prices, when they go up suddenly, or come down, customers tend to hold back. Fence sitting happens. Once there is a sign of some stability, the customer comes back. If gold prices are rising steadily, customers will buy as an investment, which is what we see.

In the current regime, price increase has been continuous. Compared to last April, this year has seen a 19 per cent jump. Virtually every quarter saw a 15 per cent jump. During pre-Akshaya Tritya there was a correction and a lot of people came and bought (gold during that time). Now it has stabilised. Between March and May, with the election fever at a high, there have been restrictions on movement of cash and gold, so there’s a discretionary deferment which happens. During May-June, in northern markets, there are no wedding dates, so this quarter we will end on a sombre note, though certain markets like South will see continued traction. A mix of gold prices, elections, summer heat and absence of wedding dates will impact the quarter. The second half of this year will be much better than H1. Our sense is that, beyond June there will be better sentiment.

We don’t have any such plans; each brand has scope and headroom to grow. The opportunities for growth are high, including for the main brand Tanishq which is already at a high but scope for organic growth is still high. Whether it’s stores, segments or in products.

The offering does not have an overlap, but there are some overlap in customer segments — Mia focuses on Gen Z and Gen Y while CaratLane could be for Gen Y as well as it appeals to a broader audience, though both are for everyday adornment. Both brands are strong on gifting. Tanishq also caters to a large segment of the sub-₹1 lakh price band. There will be some overlaps, but this segment where we recruit in the sub-₹50 K range is an important segment and those customers could become higher value customers in the future. As a portfolio we can dominate the market; each brand is profitable and successful. Many players around the world have brands that overlap and they address different mindsets. Maximising the opportunity is the thought process.

Tanishq has 475 stores and we are in 276 towns. Opportunities are not a constraint, it’s in our ability to execute and run them. We’re okay if it’s 40-50 stores opening a year. We are also renovating our existing stores. In the last couple of years, we have transformed 89 stores of our existing stores, added space, or moved locations and that’s adding to the retail capacity. Adding separate wedding jewellery floors, high value studded jewellery floors; there’s a lot of work that has gone into the retail transformation itself, not just size, even the look and feel of the store, customer experience, all of that is helping build a platform and capacity for future growth. Zoya in the next six months will be at 14-15 stores while Mia can target 70 stores in the current year. By end of next year, it can be a 250 stores chain. CaratLane can also add stores and cross 300 stores. Opportunities are huge for all brands.

There are national chains, regional and independent ones and new age players as well. Even the independents may have several stores in a city. Altogether there are at least 50 players that we actively track. That’s the nature of the industry and many of the players have access to capital, some of them are listed. All of them are expanding rapidly, penetrating higher-level towns and raising the action in them. Competitive intensity has an impact on how much discounting happens. We are very strong in the north and east, West Bengal we are not number one, but are a close number two. In Gujarat, each city has a different player who’s strong. In Mumbai, we are number one, but there are strong local players. In TN, a local jeweller is number one while in Kerala we are not number one or two while in Bengaluru we are between one and two. Each market has a different leader.