Tanishq - The Turnaround Story

Setting Things Right Contd...

In fact, its sales increased by 20-30%. The concept was later on heralded as a bold step towards professionalizing the Indian jewellery business. In an attempt to elbow out competition, Tanishq conducted tests on 10,000 ornaments selected at random. In some cases the caratage was found to be as low as 10% and almost 65% of the gold tested was below 22 carats. As the caratage offered was on the lower side in traditional jewels, the jewellers kept the making charges very low to entice customers. This had become the norm all over the country. Tanishq had to struggle hard to break this convention.

As the concept of Karatmeter became more widely known, customers began to realize that the rates they were paying for Tanishq jewellery were indeed justified. A Tanishq official commented, "They have begun to understand the total value proposition that Tanishq offers."

An all-India customer satisfaction survey conducted by Tanishq in 2001 revealed that over 50% of all Tanishq customers intended to make it their jeweller, replacing many long-standing relationships with the traditional jeweller. When Tanishq was launched, it sold most of its products through multibrand stores. This did not help the Tanishq brand to make its mark. Having realized this, Tanishq decided to set up its own chain of retail showrooms in 1998.

This proved to be a very wise move as sales picked up almost immediately. By July 2001, it had 47 'Tanishq boutiques' in 37 cities – 12 were in the metros - Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai and Bangalore, the rest in smaller cities with a population of at least 0.5 million such as Trichy, Nagpur, Amritsar and Patna.

The focus on smaller cities paid off well with the annual growth being as high as 150% as compared to the 45% growth in metros. The number of boutiques was expected to reach 50 by the end of 2001 and to 70 by 2002. Tanishq's efforts to standardize the price of its ornaments proved to be another milestone in its success.

Gold prices differed across the country as they were based on different parameters concerning the local markets. In a bid to control gold price variations in different parts of the country, Tanishq decided to have a standard gold price across all its showrooms from March 2000.

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Case Details

Case Code : MKTG013
Themes: Brand Management
Case Length : 6 Pages
Period : 1995-2001
Organization : Titan Industries India
Pub Date : 2001
Teaching Note : Available
Countries : India
Industry : Jewellery

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