Is imitation the best form of fashion?

Ankit R Gulechha, managing director, Kushal’s Fashion Jewellery, talks about customers’ preference for imitation jewellery.

Kushal’s Fashion Jewellery seems to have a strong brand recall among Bangaloreans. Tell us a little bit about the inception.
We started off in 2006 and have been doing good business since then. Right now, we have an online store as well as a chain of fashion jewellery stores in  Bangalore, Chennai, New Delhi and Coimbatore and we will  soon be opening one in Cochin too. Our vision is to offer our customers the most exclusive and beautiful collection of jewellery and gratify them with our exceptional service and quality.
 
Do you sell only women’s jewellery?
Yes, we have a single-minded focus on women’s jewellery. In fact, unlike other retail outlets, we do not sell accessories like ladies’ handbags or hair clips. Our objective is to offer women the best and latest in fashion jewellery.

To provide the best of customer experience, we have ensured that the stores have a great ambience — spacious environment and friendly staff, who can help the customer decide what suits her best.
 
The price of fashion jewellery in your store is...
Extremely affordable! It’s value for money. The designs are spectacular that every rupee that you spend is worth it.
 
What are the hot-selling categories in jewellery today?
While the hot selling categories are kundan, antique, silver and zircon, we keep adding in new designs in these categories. Many a time, the designs are so exquisite that people buy from our stores, show them to a gold jeweller and get them custom-made in gold.
 
What’s the latest trend in jewellery design?
The latest in fashion jewellery is silver temple jewellery. The designs have been inspired by temple motifs of South India. You get the same designs in gold, too. But here, we use silver as the base metal with microgold plating.

So the look and feel is very much like gold, but is least bit expensive. The craftsmanship is also like that of gold jewellery. We have many takers for this style of jewellery.

Have you noticed any changes in people’s buying patterns in the past five years?
I would say that people’s mindsets have changed when it comes to jewellery that’s not gold. Few years ago, people used to look down on those wearing fake or imitation jewellery. But now their perspective has changed. They no longer term  fake jewellery as ‘imitation’. It goes by the new name — fashion jewellery.

And the other interesting trend is that today, people want different jewellery for different attires. A working woman may go for something simple yet elegant; a housewife may go for something that’s slightly grand. Unlike earlier days, people keep buying fashion jewellery because they offer varied choices and are at the same time affordable. The range of jewellery we have complements every outfit that a woman wears.

What are your marketing strategies? Do you advertise?
Earlier, we used to have radio jingles and hoardings. Now we do a lot of joint marketing activities. For instance, we coordinate with a lot of sari stores and other stores selling fashion clothing. We have gift vouchers that our marketing partners give their customers. We have a Facebook page too. We have loyalty programmes for customers and this has ensured that we get repeat customers every now and then.

Tell us about the online store. Are you attracting lot of customers?
Kushals.com is just about six months old, but we have managed to lure customers. We have a lot of male customers ordering jewellery for their wives and girlfriends.