CONSUMER PREFERENCE TOWARDS BRANDED AND NON-BRANDED JEWELLERY: AN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS

Abstract

Jewellery is a significant aspect of Indian culture and tradition, since ages. India is world’s biggest customer for jewellery, especially gold. Though the industry has a huge presence in the country, it is mostly dominated by players in the unorganized sector. However, in the recent past, there has been a slow and steady increase of branded jewellery players representing the organized sector. On the customers’ side, there seems to be a growing preference towards branded jewellery. Apart from the aesthetic value offered by the jewellery, it is considered to be a matter of great security in time of financial crisis due to its value. Traditionally, having a good collection of jewellery symbolizes power, status and immense wealth. Jewellery is an adornment, gift, investment as well as a culturally significant product. This study is an attempt to uncover the underlying factors that influences consumer’s preference towards branded and non-branded jewellery. Major factors influencing consumer choice were identified from literature and the opinions on them were captured from the respondents using the validated questionnaire. The questionnaire was posted on various web channels. 99 respondents who completed the survey constituted the sample for the study. The analyses show that there is a growing awareness and preference towards branded jewellery. Gold is the most preferred type of jewellery. The major reasons for preference towards branded jewellery are found to be quality & purity assurance, brand image, availability of wide variety of designs and certification. There is still a good amount of preference towards local jewellers. The reasons are closeness of location of followed by long-standing acquaintance with the retailer and the associated trust.