Deepak Kumar, Retail & Marketing Head, discusses the brand’s approach to customisation, changing buying occasions and the relationship between digital discovery, store interactions and customer trust.
A customer choosing jewellery may arrive with more than a preferred design. There may be a family association, a saved photograph, an outfit to coordinate or an idea of how the piece should make them feel. Understanding those expectations is an important part of translating interest into a considered purchase.
At Sri Jagdamba Pearls, Deepak Kumar, Retail & Marketing Head, described a retail approach shaped by this relationship between product and purpose. The brand’s assortment must accommodate elaborate wedding purchases alongside everyday pieces, while its service must respond to customers who bring increasingly specific preferences.
One encounter at the brand’s flagship store on MG Road in Hyderabad illustrates how much a conversation can reveal. Kumar recalls meeting a woman looking for pearl jewellery for her daughter’s wedding. When he asked about her preference, she pointed to the strands she was wearing. Her father had gifted them to her when she married. She now wanted to make a similar gesture for her daughter.
The purchase connected two generations, but it also presented a current design requirement: finding jewellery appropriate for the daughter who would wear it. For Deepak Kumar, such interactions help explain the emotional character of the category. Customers assess appearance, materials and price while also considering what a piece represents. The store team needs to understand both aspects.
Designing for different reasons to buy
Sri Jagdamba Pearls’ design approach, as Kumar describes it, reflects a widening range of buying occasions. Wedding jewellery remains an important part of the offering. He discusses multilayered, Nizam-inspired pearl designs that involve detailed craftsmanship. Alongside these, he describes minimal pieces, studs, bracelets and pendants intended for more frequent wear.
The distinction affects how a collection is developed and presented. A customer choosing wedding jewellery may be considering how it works with a complete ensemble. Someone shopping for a holiday or a working day may want a different scale, style or level of versatility. Deepak Kumar sees these everyday motivations becoming more visible among men.
According to him, male customers account for approximately 20% of the brand’s sales, including self-purchases and gifts. Within the self-purchase segment, he observes greater confidence in choosing jewellery as an expression of individual style. “So that's how men, they're more confident walking in the store, choosing their own style, choosing their own designs,” he further added. His examples include jewellery selected for workwear, weekends and holidays. The purchase becomes part of dressing for a particular setting, with customers considering how a piece relates to their clothing and personal preferences.
Interestingly, he also highlighted pearl strands, studs, gemstone bracelets and silver pendants featuring initials or zodiac signs among the designs addressing these requirements. He describes several of these offerings as unisex. For the brand, this means providing choice without assuming that every customer enters the category for the same reason. The interaction at the counter becomes useful when it establishes how someone intends to wear the jewellery and what they value in it.
Customisation as part of the buying process
A significant part of the customer experience involves responding to an idea the buyer already has. Kumar says approximately 40% of the company’s sales involve customisation. Customers may bring references from Instagram, magazines, public figures or fashion presentations, using these images to communicate a preferred look.
“Everybody has a checklist. Everybody has a desire to, yes, my jewelry should look like this,” he says. That expectation changes the retailer’s role. The process involves interpreting the reference, developing the details and explaining what is required to execute the piece.
Deepak Kumar described customers sharing designs through WhatsApp or Instagram. An in-house team, including designers, merchandisers and category managers, works through the requirements, with CAD/CAM used to develop the design details before costing and execution. The quality of this process depends on how clearly the customer can follow it.
A reference establishes a direction, but the buyer needs to understand the proposed piece: its appearance, the details involved, the cost and the delivery commitment. These discussions help turn a visual preference into an agreed requirement.
Explaining the difference helps customers relate the timeline to the work involved. It also matters when a purchase is tied to a wedding, gift or other planned occasion. In this context, delivery expectations form part of the design experience. The customer is choosing a piece for a particular moment, and the production schedule needs to support that purpose.
The coordination behind personalisation
Customisation also has implications for the way Sri Jagdamba Pearls manages its assortment. He explained that producing against customer requirements can reduce the need to hold every possible finished design as physical inventory. The brand can offer choice through its ability to develop a piece, alongside the jewellery already available in-store. This links the customer proposition to operational capability.
An individual design depends on several functions working from the same brief. The customer may interact with one person, while the outcome relies on coordination between design, costing and execution. For the buyer, confidence develops when these stages feel connected. A discussion about a preferred detail should be reflected in the design that follows. An agreed timeline should remain clear throughout the process.
The opportunity is to make personalisation understandable as well as individual.
Connecting digital interest with store experience
Deepak Kumar identifies Instagram, influencers, storytelling and WhatsApp as important channels for communicating with younger audiences and introducing designs. These channels allow customers to explore a style before approaching the brand. They may save an image, make an enquiry or share a reference ahead of a store visit.
A physical visit allows a customer to assess jewellery in relation to themselves i.e. how its scale appears, how it works with their preferences and whether the piece feels appropriate for the intended occasion. It also creates space for a fuller conversation.
An online image may attract attention, while an interaction with the team can help the customer compare alternatives or clarify a requirement. Digital discovery and store guidance therefore contribute different kinds of information to the same decision. For Sri Jagdamba Pearls, the customer experience depends on continuity between them. A reference shared digitally should provide a useful starting point when the discussion moves into the store.
A customer may approach Sri Jagdamba Pearls because of a family memory or an interest in heritage-inspired jewellery. Another may be looking for a contemporary piece for regular wear. Both need to find something relevant to their lives.
Regional preferences also inform Kumar’s view of assortment planning. He describes cultural and traditional elements as significant within parts of the southern market, while observing interest in lighter pieces and contemporary styling among other customer groups. These observations reflect his retail experience rather than fixed rules about regional taste. Their practical importance lies in understanding the people a particular store serves.
The assortment needs room for different budgets, styles and occasions. Conversations with customers help assess whether that choice is sufficient.
Learning from the customer
Direct interactions with the customers is a source of product and service insight. It has helped the brand learn about gaps in design, pricing, packaging and staff engagement through these exchanges. A customer’s response can reveal something that internal planning has not fully captured. That includes conversations that do not lead to a purchase. An unavailable design, an unclear explanation or a mismatch in expectations can provide useful information about where the experience needs attention.
A single visit may be one point in a customer’s journey through different occasions and purchases. Listening gives the brand an opportunity to remain relevant to the next one.
How the experience supports trust
Jewellery can be closely associated with milestones, relationships and personal expression. The buying experience becomes part of how the customer remembers the piece and the retailer. Someone may return because an earlier purchase was meaningful. They may also remember that their budget was understood, a design was explained clearly or a customised order was handled as expected. “Apart from the assortment and the design, trust is one element which is primarily very, very important in jewelry buying process,” Kumar highlighted.
His account connects that trust to practical elements of retail: relevant choice, informed guidance, clear costing and dependable execution. For Sri Jagdamba Pearls, these elements allow heritage and contemporary design to work within the same customer relationship. The brand can be part of a family tradition while responding to what an individual wants to wear today.
The woman choosing pearls for her daughter brought both considerations into the Hyderabad store. Her own necklace explained the emotional significance of the purchase. Finding the next piece required attention to the person who would receive it.
Understanding that distinction is where jewellery design and customer experience come together.
Disclaimer: All data points and statistics are attributed to published research studies and verified market research. All quotes are either sourced directly or attributed to public statements.