During the past four months of COVID-19 lockdown, businesses have learned many things: how to continue with business during a lockdown, newer marketing strategies, and the need to stay more and more connected with customers and partners.
On July 29, Shree Ramkrishna Exports Pvt. Ltd. (SRK), with media partner JCK, conducted an informative webinar to help business owners, jewelry manufacturers, diamond traders, and diamond wholesalers navigate the challenge of selling in these tough times. Titled “The Hows and Whys of Digitally Transforming Your Business,” the webinar—led by the brand custodian of SRK, Shreyans Dholakia—shed light on the most discussed topics in the current scenario.
“The pandemic has given us enough opportunity to take our businesses online. The 2008–2009 recession and 2019–2020 pandemic situation, though both being challenging to businesses globally, are inherently different. The earlier recession was about financial crisis, which brought discipline in our finance management, while COVID-19 has taught us to be isolated physically but connected virtually,” Shreyans said.
“Today 60% of the global population are active users of the internet, and, according to research by McKinsey & Co., nearly 80% of luxury sales today are digitally influenced,” Shreyans noted. “The gems and jewelry industry is going through an internal digital transformation process to meet the consumers’ needs.”
The first customer-centric strategy Shreyans discussed was to engage individual customers rather than using a one-size-fits-all solution. He urged the audience to focus on providing an outstanding experience that is consistent and in line with their consumers’ values, as customers are our consultants.
With B2B customers also modifying their buying behavior and adapting to B2C practices such as researching on the internet before buying, looking for alternatives in forums, and reading blogs, the second strategy he discussed is the need to focus on content marketing to help one’s organization embrace the new digital landscape and exceed customer expectations.
Shreyans said he couldn’t overstate the importance of digital transformation, which is now a reality rather than a mere concept. “Digital transformation provides the industry with unparalleled opportunities for value creation. While Fortune 500 companies took an average of 20 years to reach a billion-dollar valuation, today’s digital startups are getting there in just four years. “Digital technologies are creating new profit pools by transforming customer expectations and how companies can address them,” he stated.
The diamond industry is undergoing a disruption between the centuries-old trade of mined diamonds and the futuristic, high-tech era of online selling, which is driven by consumer marketing and technological innovation. SRK has developed omnichannel capabilities by optimizing the user experience and touch-free customer experience management by introducing immersive customer experiences such as DigiPlot, the Footprints, the new SRK.one mobile application (a dynamic listing portal for diamonds), and more.
During the Q&A session, diamond traders wanted to know how they can incorporate digital transformation into their processes in a better way and whether it requires a culture shift in an organization. They also inquired about the investments required in the process.
Watch the full webinar replay here.