More than anywhere else in the world, India has had the largest culture of jewelry for hundreds of years. Jewelry, gold and precious stones are deeply rooted in the Indian tradition and go as far back as far as the start of the Indian civilization itself.
Until today, jewelry in India is not simply an accessory or a show of status. Each piece, and every stone represents something deeply mystical, be it sacred planets or protection against evil spirits.
For women across India, jewelry also often represents a form of financial security. Especially in Tier III cities where many women do not own a credit card or even a bank account, jewelry can be a symbol of independence.
While an emerging market of online jewelry sales is surging, displaying rapid growth in the last 5 years, traditional, large ticket jewelry is still being bought at the physical retail outlets where people have been going for years. The user behavior of purchasing high ticket and traditional Indian jewelry for special events has always been a family tradition of seeing, feeling and experiencing the jewelry on oneself.
That is where the big online jewelry retailers in India are lacking a personal touch. Sure, the jewelry sold online is on average worth INR 12,000 [$200], but it’s coming nowhere near India’s $40billion offline market. India has the most developed jewelry culture in the world, yet, compared to other countries, no strong online presence has managed to break through.
And that’s what Joolz is aiming to do. Joolz is a virtual jewelry store, which brings together the leading jewelry brands on a single and intuitive mobile application. Leveraging a network of the top jewelers in the industry, Joolz aggregates and curates inventory to offer its users an enjoyable and rewarding shopping experience but at the same time a discovery and community platform.
In this sense, Joolz is a community platform, but one that still encourages the continued tradition of buying traditional jewelry in shops by helping jewelers connect with customers. Joolz is the first online connection between jeweler and passionate jewelry lover, creating advertisement, exposure, campaigns and referrals next to sales. By focusing on the community and culture first, we believe sales will ultimately follow. Joolz encourages synergetic communications through the discussion of trends in fashion and jewelry.
Our Mission at Joolz is also to help people discover these pieces of art across the country from the comfort of their homes and in the palms of their hands. As united as India is, the jewelry market is one of the most hyper-local industries. People simply don’t have access to all brands or styles across the 29 states. Every state has it’s own jewelry culture, styles, gold purity, diamond clarity, etc. May it be Jadau, Kundan or Meenakari jewelry, they all have different origins and stories, and that is still reflected in today’s purchases.
But the issue here is that in the modern world users in the world are excited to discover multi-cultural trends on the web, which read beyond their borders. People are not only restricted to jewelry from their state, but can actually have access to exclusive designs and collections from different states and countries.
A user from Chennai can now discover beautiful jewelry from Mumbai, and people from Bangalore can discover exclusive jewelry from New Delhi, from the comfort of their personal smartphones, anywhere, anytime.
We, at Joolz believe that confidence is the strongest asset a person can have. We also believe that Jewelry and fashion strongly reflect the same.
About the Author –
Arnaud Lorie is the Founder of Joolz, India first virtual jewelry store, aggregates and curates inventory to offer consumers an enjoyable and rewarding shopping experience. Arnaud always been inspired to be an entrepreneur. He spent 10 months in India working and networking for one of the biggest diamond and jewelry manufacturers in the world (Mahendra Brothers, India, Gujarat). There, he discovered the beauty and potential in the tech & jewelry industry and chose to combine these two in order to create a new innovative business in the new start-up nation, India.