Shoppers make token purchases of gold and silver on Dhanteras

Suvankar Sen, MD and CEO, Senco Gold & Diamonds said the jewellery retailer reported pre-bookings from shoppers in the run-up to Dhanteras on 22 October. Shoppers typically buy gold, silver, and small utensils on Dhanteras.

Jewellers said shoppers opted for low-ticket purchases.

“In the last few days we have witnessed lots of pre-booking of jewellery for final purchase on the day of Dhanteras. Customer sentiments are also looking positive due to recent reduction in local gold prices. Footfall at all the stores has been very good and we expect it will be more than the last year. Ticket sizes have been marginally lower than that of last year’s. Sales of diamond jewellery have been growing especially with light weight everyday wear and statement pieces,” Sen said citing data from early trends reported on the day of Dhanteras.

Sen said demand for the upcoming wedding season has also picked up.

“Bridal customers for upcoming wedding season have also started their buying and is approximately 25-30% of total customer sales. Demand for traditional silver and gold coins are steady, while we have also seen 40% more sales of digital gold at our myDigiGold platform compared to other months of the year, mainly from millennials,” he said.

Majority of shoppers at Kalyan Jewellers bought lightweight jewellery such as bracelets and chains apart from gold coins. “On the back of strong pre-booking numbers, we are expecting good customer footfall across our showrooms, especially in the non-South markets. So far, majority of our customers have opted for lightweight token purchases such as Mangalsutra, bracelets, chains, etc. apart from gold coins,” said Ramesh Kalyanaraman, executive director, Kalyan Jewellers.

Amit Pratihari, vice president, De Beers Forevermark said it expects sales to be up 25-30% on the Dhanteras weekend. “The sales response is extremely strong this festive season. We see a lot of walk-in customers on the auspicious day of Dhanteras. All our partner retailers have done good sales and this has set the momentum for the season. We are expecting around 20-25% growth this year,” said Pratihari.

Companies are concerned that high inflation is eating into household budgets and turning shoppers more cautious towards high-ticket purchases.

Trader’s association CAIT said it expects retailers across India to clock sales of ₹40,000 crore this weekend.

“Factors like lower gold price, offers, positive mindset of customer’s and increased number of footfalls at stores have compensated for marginally lower average ticket size of purchase,” the trade body said. They expect Diwali season sales to be “marginally” better for traders this year.