Jewellers sell ~100 gold online in festive warm-up

Jewellers in India have started selling gold for a little over $1 (~100) online after the pandemic upended sales, forcing them to reassess traditional ways of doing business.

Sales crashed last year in the second-biggest consumer after a nationwide lockdown shuttered stores across India. But it also led to a bump in India’s nascent market for online gold sales. That’s pushed jewelers such as Tata Group's Tanishq, Kalyan Jewellers India, PC Jeweller and Senco Gold and Diamonds to launch offers to sell gold for as little as 100 rupees ($1.35) either directly on their websites or through tie-ups with digital gold platforms. Consumers can take delivery once they have invested enough for at least 1 gram of gold.

Digital gold sales aren’t new to India, with mobile wallets and platforms like Augmont Gold For All, and World Gold Councilbacked Safegold offering the product. Jewellers had so far shied away from selling such products online, restricting them to their stores as the bulk of purchases are still made in person.

“Covid, obviously, has changed the mindset of a lot of jewellers and they have also been proactive in selling jewellery online. So this is just the extension of the whole mindset,” said Ketan Kothari, director at Augmont Gold, which has more than 4,000 jewellers as partners.

The jewellers have launched the offers just as the festive season begins, when gold demand peaks. Digital purchases are rising as more Indians warm up to buying via the internet.