The world celebrated Valentine’s Day which celebrates the feeling of Love. It is not only celebrated by young lovers but by one and all as Love is universal. Brands spend huge monies on this day and all sort of out-of-the-box marketing solutions are seen across all mediums.
Nishit Nanda, CEO, youlry.com – cloud-first, consumer-focused D2C brand for gold and diamond jewelry from Khimji Jewels speaks exclusively to Medianews4u on the jewelry trends for Valentine’s Day, a spike in online sales, and much more…
Jewelry is the most gifted item on Valentine’s Day. How does your brand benefit from this? Do customers prefer design-heavy jewelry on such occasions?
Our brand is all about making people feel beautiful about themselves. It’s about personal acceptance and expression. The fact that we have gender-fluid designs and a contemporary aesthetic makes us even more relevant to today’s free-thinking customer base. We are also completely online, which means we are easily accessible across the country. So, whether it’s a gift for yourself, your partner, your family, or your bestie, we have designs to fulfil every sort of love. I think people really appreciate the thoughtfulness of our creations, which helps keep Youlry in their purview.
Today’s customers are all about smart and aesthetic purchases. They prefer to invest in accessories that they can use repeatedly and wear on multiple occasions. This behavior has led to a decline in the preference for heavy, elaborate jewelry. We see more and more people opting for lightweight jewellery in precious metals and stones that they can wear easily and cherish for a lifetime. In fact, it is this increasing trend that made us create the young, effortless, and chic collections that Youlry has on offer.
What are the staple, must-have designs for Valentine’s according to you?
For Valentine’s Day, romance is a given. But what’s interesting is that the interpretation of romance is so beautiful and versatile today. While heart-shaped and floral designs with a pop of red are still popular, delightful designs in diamonds and geometric shapes have also become hot favorites. These days, self-gifting has become a wonderful tradition, with people (especially women) celebrating their love for themselves on Valentine’s Day. This is why sleek, contemporary designs for everyday wear as well as statement pieces that speak to people on a personal note have also claimed the spotlight.
Being a youth-oriented brand, do you have any suggestions for the youth for Valentine’s Day? Are there any specific styles of designs that young customers prefer?
As a brand that focuses on encouraging people to embrace themselves and flaunt their beauty through our creations, we have just one message for the youth of today. Fall in love. Freely, headily, passionately. With yourself, with what you do, with whom you’re with, with your life. Forget the rules, the norms, and the expectations. Feel the emotions with your entire being and listen to your heart. Because when you love with abandon, you live with utmost happiness.
These days’ young customers are all about wearability. Lightweight jewelry with just a touch of sparkle is what most of them are going for. These pieces are extremely versatile and can be worn for work, play, and party. Our Luminescent and New Bloom collections focus on catering to this particular aesthetic with utmost ease.
How can young customers seeking to buy jewellery for their partner make more informed buying decisions?
Jewelry is an extremely personal gift. It is an expression of the person wearing it. So, if you’re choosing to gift your partner some jewelry this Valentine’s Day, I think a bit of R&D will work miracles. Notice the details like whether they prefer statement jewelry or delicate styles, floral or geometric designs, and so on. Find something with a pop of their favorite color. And choose a metal that complements their style of dressing – rose gold is beautifully feminine, yellow gold is classic and charming, and white gold goes perfectly with a more Westernized aesthetic for work.
Are today’s customers more comfortable making Valentine’s Day purchases online? How has technology changed the buying behavior of customers especially during such occasions?
The pandemic has brought about a huge shift in purchasing behavior. More and more people have gone online to buy the most basic things. In this new normal, online is not just the preferred mode of purchase, but almost the expected one. In addition to safety, shopping online has also opened up a world of great choice, accessibility, and convenience. So, customers are extremely comfortable in even buying jewelry here.
Technology has been our savior in these challenging times. It has helped us connect and celebrate even as we have been forced apart by circumstances. As I mentioned before, technology has also enabled us to maintain our lifestyles from the safety of our homes. This includes buying almost everything online. Even people who have been staunch shoppers at brick-and-mortar stores have adopted the online space as their go-to shopping destination. People now shop through technology like phones, laptops and tablets, from wherever they are with increasing ease.
What is the major attraction that your brand is offering on Valentine’s Day 2022?What is your take on the constant evolution of design trends among millennial?
Apart from offering a huge range of designs and stunning collections to choose from, we at youlry have added a little extra something to sweeten this Valentine’s Day. We are running an offer of Rs. 1000 off on our website, so that people can buy chic, precious jewelry at even more precious prices.
The evolution of design trends among millennials is inspiring, to say the least. The diversity of aesthetics is wonderfully fluid and constantly surprising. That keeps us on our toes, as we imagine, play, and create like never before.
This year the budget has made some consideration to the gems industry – How will it affect the pricing?
With the reduction of customs duty on polished diamonds and gemstones, we see the prices of these dropping across the industry and therefore, an increase in sales. In addition to this, the import of undervalued imitation jewellery is being disincentivized with an increase of customs duty on the same. This will protect the Indian gems and jewelry industry with a rise in the prices of imported goods.
2 years of pandemic and the economy being not so stable, how is 2022 looking for the gifting industry?
2022 is looking to be the year when people start resuming life as they know it, again. While many changes promise to be permanent, the joy of celebrating together seems to be resurfacing. This means that there will also be a rise in gifting, as physical celebrations resume prominence over virtual ones. With most of the market being online today, gift-buying and gift-giving is easier than ever before. For the gifting industry, 2022 looks to be the year when we’ll be back with a boom.
