Band, baaja and the quest for billions

The year 2018 is bowing out with a bang. It seemed a chorus of wedding operas was as celebrities got married in style and it hit crescendo a during the Ambani wedding. While the events were dripping wealth, there was a dominance of traditional Indian labels and non-labels, which exuded luxury by their sheer presence. Conspicuously missing were the international luxury labels, which have managed to become an integral part of the daily lives of these stakeholders, but remain somewhat amiss in one of the most important days of their lives – the big fat Indian wedding. So why have these international luxury brands been so shy in getting a pie of this multi-billion-dollar wedding market in India?

To understand this, we have to first identify the missing ingredient. And to know the missing ingredient we have to understand the ethos of an Indian wedding. The root lies in our traditions. So what the wedding showcases is the celebration of these traditions in the most authentic way, making ample room to showcase opulence and luxe. Small wonder that the billions of dollars are mostly spent on non-international luxury brands to make sure that the heady mix of splurge and tradition is maintained. 

The key, therefore, lies in a deep understanding of these Indian traditions and then customising the products to suit the needs. Historically, international luxury brands have been quite averse to customisation for a certain geography, the reason primarily being the arrogance and pride for their craft and market. Much later, many of them realised business is more important than pride and so they started coming with customised collections which are geography-specific, especially for the two largest markets – India and China. 

For example, to celebrate the Chinese Lunar New Year, Giorgio Armani’s collection had dominance of the colour red, which symbolises good fortune and joy. It is used with this year’s ubiquitous design element: dogs. According to the Chinese zodiac calendar, 2018 was the Year of Dog. Christian Dior also released a dedicated video to introduce the exclusive “Rose des vents” jewellery collection. Louis Vuitton created a cartoon dog based on the Japanese Shiba Inu breed for this Lunar New Year.

On the Indian side, Diwali has been a favourite for these brands. A good example is a Spanish brand dedicated since 1953 to the creation of art porcelain figurines, Llardo. They came up with Lakshmi figurines and diyas made of porcelain for Diwali. Hermes had launched its saree for the Indian market, which had takers but did not encourage the French luxury brand to come up with more. Jimmy Choo, too, has some collections dedicated to the Indian market. But they are destined for failure if they do not go deeper into understanding the traditions they are customising their collections for. For example, while both Diwali and Dhanteras are occasions for splurging and showcasing wealth, in the former, the buying is for gifting while in the latter, it is for within the family - preserving Lakshmi within the household. So the customisations will be very different if a luxury brand chooses to tap into these markets. 

While these brands have taken a step towards acknowledging the importance of these markets, they are yet to acknowledge the criticality of greater understanding of the traditions and its ethos. The key to tapping into the multi-billion-dollar Indian wedding market is by understanding the customers and what they intend to showcase via the various days of celebrations of the wedding. Once these brands take a closer look into the various rituals, they will have an understanding of the customers' needs that they are not able to meet or satisfy. Customer immersion is the only way by which they will be able to strategise and thus understand the range of products that they can come up with to be an integral part of the celebrations. Indianisation of international luxury brands is the only way they can get a pie of the wedding market. 

There is, however, a catch. These international brands need to also keep in mind that the right mix is the only solution to success. In their zeal towards becoming Indian, they can’t lose their essence, which is the raison d'être. 

So, the right portion to the multi-billion-dollar magical potion is the magical mantra to be invited in the great Indian wedding. 

The writer is a luxury commentator and author of Dark Luxe