Swarovski shifts focus to selling lab-grown diamond jewelery in India

“‘Man-made diamonds’ are now the fastest growing business category in the region. We believe this is because pricing is also very attractive from an end consumer perspective. Globally, the price of diamonds has come down, so this This business will grow a lot in the coming days despite the fact that the category needs more awareness now,” he said.

Jewelers say natural diamonds are about 10-30% cheaper than last year, depending on quality. The price of lab-grown diamonds is usually 40% of natural diamonds.

“We launched the ‘man-made diamond’ segment in the country earlier this year and we expect it to have a strong presence here. It has been a huge success in the US market, which is why we have decided to launch this in other key locations business, such as China, Japan and Dubai,” he said. Swarovski crystals are typically made from quartz, sand, potash, soda and other ingredients melted at high temperatures.

In addition to Austria, the company also has plants in Serbia, India, Thailand and Vietnam. Most of its sales in India (about 80-85%) come from its jewelry range and the rest from its higher-priced Swiss-made luxury watches $20,000.

While the downturn in the luxury goods market, coupled with unstable geopolitical and macroeconomic conditions, has weakened business in China, one of its largest markets, it also means that the company will focus more on other regions such as India, where it plans to An additional 10 stores will be added to the existing number of stores. It will reach 60 people in the next year. Currently, the company operates its own boutiques and works with local partners in India to sell its inventory. The company opened a new company-owned store in Gurgaon earlier this month and is looking to add airport retail stores in different cities in the next phase of expansion.

“Our next batch of stores will be a mix of retail and travel retail and will be a mix of owned and partner stores. We don’t want to open stores all over India but will try to focus on locations that we can sustain in the long term. The duty-free business is growing very steadily here and it’s a good way to develop,” he added.

Swarovski has 6,600 points of sale worldwide, 2,300 of which are company-owned stores.

The company first opened stores in India in 2000 and has since transformed its positioning in the country from a “shy presence” to a very strong presence.

“The potential of the country today has definitely changed. The retail market landscape has gone beyond the usual suspect cities to include Hyderabad, Chennai, Bengaluru and many others,” Sleiman said.

The company said total sales in 2023 would be 1.8 billion euros, up 4% from 2022. Growth was achieved across all business categories, including retail, business-to-business crystal sales and consumer jewelry operations. While its top 10 markets continued to grow, the company’s earnings before interest and tax (Ebit) returned to positive territory for the first time since 2019, despite significant foreign exchange impacts.

Growth in luxury goods consumption in India

Demand for luxury goods consumption in India has been growing steadily in recent years. Last month, Mint reported that affluent Indian consumers are increasingly spending on high-end luxury goods, driving strong sales for some of the world’s leading fashion brands.

The trend is happening despite slowing domestic consumption and declining sales in China, the luxury brand’s main market. The local operations of Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior and Hermes jointly reported sales $Revenue from apparel, accessories and other merchandise was Rs 1,400 crore in the year to March 2024, according to an exclusive document accessed through business intelligence platform Tofler. Swiss watch value $Between January and October this year, India sold Rs 2,075 crore.