For those who do not want to remain faceless during the time of social distancing, some photo studios in Kerala and Tamil Nadu are selling custom-made facemasks. These are facemasks with the lower half of your face printed on it.
As the country stumbled back to a semblance of normalcy in lockdown 4.0, most salons and parlours remained shut, leaving the beauty industry dry and desperate for business and their owners hoping to survive the financial pandemic.
Lipstick sales have taken a hit with people staying indoors and the consumer’s makeup usage behaviour changing in a dramatic way. With masks becoming a must-have accessory and no occasion for socialising, the consumer’s focus appears to have shifted more towards eye makeup from wearing lipsticks.
Gold jewellery is the second most popular item they own when compared against a range of other fashion and lifestyle products. 60% of women own gold jewellery – second only to designer clothes/sarees. And 40% had bought gold jewellery in the preceding 12-month period, eclipsing purchases of diamond or platinum jewellery.
Due to muted global demand, Indian diamond trade is unlikely to import rough diamonds for a month beginning June 1, as the global demand will not pick up immediately and the trade has huge inventory.
The offered volume is the largest ALROSA has ever put on a digital tender. The company provides detailed information on each diamond for remote evaluation. Clients logged to their personal online account get full digital scans of auctioned stones, including data on their external shape, inclusions, color, fluorescence, as well as photos.
Jewellers operating in states like Kerala , Maharashtra and Goa, whose governments have eased restrictions in certain areas , said Most customers were placing orders rather than selling scrap.
Leading jewellers including Tanishq, Kalyan Jewellers, Joyalukkas and Senco Gold & Diamonds have opened their showroom with one-third the normal staff, but fear is in the air as large showrooms have gold and diamond ornaments worth up to Rs 300 crore. Leading trade bodies have advised jewellers to think twice before opening showrooms.
Leading salons such as Lakme, BBlunt, Enrich and Bodycraft are planning a seismic shift in day-to-day operations to inculcate safety measures, as they seek to woo back the fear-enveloped customer amid the coronavirus outbreak. The five-billion-dollar salon industry, which has been under lockdown for eight weeks, anticipates sales to recover only by the fourth quarter of the fiscal.
Being a responsible the organization, PC Chandra Jewellers is following stringent safety measures across all reopened showrooms. These safety measures include mandatory use of thermal scanner, installation of washbasin at the entry point, compulsory use of hand sanitizer at entry and exit points, wearing mask and gloves, frequent showroom cleaning and sanitizing and many others.
Considering the ongoing crisis due to coronavirus pandemic, the government has allowed only 10 percent of workforce to operate in these jewellery export units and also transport of the employees will be the responsibility of the employer during the lockdown period.
Jewellery demand, which is primarily driven by marriage season and a couple of festivals in the first quarter, has been significantly washed out due to the ongoing nationwide lockdown, Ind-Ra said in a report. Gold jewellery demand had already slowed down in FY20 in terms of tonnage and revenue due to the economic slowdown.
“Gems and jewellery have started going to Hong Kong and Dubai through cargo flights,” Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) vice-chairman Colin Shah told ET.
All India Gems and Jewellery Domestic Council (GJF) Chairman Anantha Padmanabhan told that jewellers have opened shops in few states after taking permission from local authorities in the last one week. Gold prices in India are currently ruling at Rs 45,000 per 10 grams, he said.
