We had earlier written that Reliance would enter into jewellery retailing and here they open their first shop – Reliance Jewels in Bangalore. [If you notice, Reliance which always opened its first shop in Hyderabad has shifted focus to Bangalore now :-)] This store when we saw is 6,000 sft in size and stocks gold, diamond and bridal jewellery.
The company plans to add 300 Jewellery shops within the next 3 years. Mr. Kurien, President of Reliance Retail Ltd said,
Jewels is positioned in the mid market as an experimental store that offers value and competitive prices catering to every budget and type of consumer in a superior shopping ambience.
The jewelry market in India is estimated to be Rs 80,000 crore [$20 billion] and only 3.5% of the market is organized retail. Reliance Jewels stores will range in sizes between 2,500 sft to 15,000 sft [flagship stores].
In a separate development, Sania Mirza, the brand ambassador for Landmark Retail has launched a credit card in association with Deutsche Bank.