You are one of the oldest jewellers in India. How do you see the transformation in the last century?

I will term Kerala as the golden hub of India.  Earlier, the entire jewellery market was completely based on the model of designs from Kerala. However, it shifted towards the Singapore model, which was fancy and trendy. Most of the jewellers in Kerala were family-run businesses unlike the corporate structure. In those days, the father-son managed business model was to stock certain value of gold in a showroom. Expansion meant having two or three more adjacent shops. We are noticing some changing trends in the last five years. On the products side, the customer focus is moving from gold towards diamond.

How did the concept of modern retailing of jewellry emerge in Kerala?

This concept has emerged in a big way in the last 20 years. Retailing started mushrooming in India when women began feeling safer wearing ornaments. Also, the safety measures in retail shops like private agency security guards, surveillance cameras, computerisation of stocks/bill and other anti-theft mechanism came into existence. That’s how family-run businesses, which held 50kg of gold as a bulk inside the store rooms, felt secure and confident in displaying them to customers.

Does retail design play a key role for a retailer like Chungath?

From normal tube-lights and painted name boards, now all the jewellery retailers are constantly focussing on innovating the look and feel. The customer expectations are changing. Hence, any gold retailer will be investing 30% of their total expenses in designing the shops.

What type of lights and furniture you use in your stores?

We throw yellow lights on the gold ornaments and warm white light on the diamond sections. For furniture, we opt for cushion chairs that will help the customer face the mirror without any trouble, giving better comfort.

What are the differentiators for a gold retailer? How do you make yourself unique to create a competitive edge?

It’s a challenge, indeed. To bring in unique customer experience, we decided to enhance the customer’s recall of Chungath not just with looks but also with the feel. We now use a unique fragrance across all our stores. The sense of smell brings in refreshing and welcoming feel to customers. Besides, we also have unique names for our collections such as ‘Sannidhi’ and ‘Chettinad’.

What are your store formats? How often you change the design of the stores?

We always place ourselves in high-streets at all the locations and change the look and feel every five years.

What are your expansion plans?

This year, we will be opening two more showrooms in Kerala. One will be in Kodungallur and the other in Kottayam. We also had plans of expansion across South, which was majorly impacted by the GST hitting the industry very hard.