India's gold malls heighten sales

Jewellery sales in India have been boosted by the introduction of new speciality malls into the already traditionally vibrant marketplace, reports International Diamond Exchange Online.

Gold Souk was the first speciality mall to be built in the National Capital Region of the south Asian country and consists of 180,000 square feet of designer jewellers and gold retailers.

Indian retail's largest brand, Avenue Montaigne, is the flagship store in the mall, which being a speciality shopping area offers a conversion rate of browsers to buyers of 60 per cent, much higher than a traditional wide-ranging retail complex.

G S Pillai, the director of Aerens, the company that owns and runs Gold Souk, explained the notion behind the idea.

"The concept is akin to a bazaar offering the entire range of jewellery in gold, silver, platinum, diamond-studded and also semi-precious stones, watches and lifestyle accessories," he told Business Line.

Sales results from the complex have been promising, with an average of ten million Rupees taken per day during the Hindu 'festival of lights', Diwali, a prime gift-giving period.

Following the success of Gold Souk, Aerens plans to expand the speciality jewellery mall complex throughout India, with malls scheduled for Calcutta and Chennai.

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