Dubai
If the current price of gold ($1,295 an ounce or Dh140 a gram) is not enough of an incentive for shoppers, the UAE’s gold and jewellery chains are making sure their promotions for the upcoming ‘Akshaya Trithiya’ phase in the first week of May will be. So much so, some of the campaigns are on par with what the leading retailers have got on during the peak Dubai Shopping Festival run.
Akshaya Trithiya is principally geared towards shoppers from the Indian subcontinent, who believe it is an auspicious phase to make gold purchases. But in cosmopolitan UAE, retailers are casting the net to hopefully pull in other demographics on the strength of the individual campaigns.
“The scale of the promotions for this year’s Akshaya Trithiya [which run until May 3] have certainly been bigger, purely because that’s the only way these days to differentiate between a larger retailer and a smaller name,” said Joy Alukkas, chairman and managing director at Joyalukkas Group. “The number of jewellery stores in Dubai and the other emirates are mushrooming — so a customer can only be convinced by what more an outlet can offer on top of the actual purchase.
“But jewellery outlets are also raising the threshold levels — where it used to be, say, a minimum sale of Dh1,000 to be eligible for a promotion, now it’s higher than that, say Dh3,000.”
What this means is the big chains are offering free gold coins or gifts with each purchase of Dh3,000 and more (Joyalukkas Jewellery) or a raffle coupon for every Dh500 purchase and a chance to win 250 grams each day (Malabar Gold and Diamonds). A recent entrant into the local jewellery trade, Kalyan Jewellers is also having gold coins as part of a transaction of Dh2,500 and more, and for diamond purchases of Dh5,000 and plus, four gold coins come free with it. Damas has studded its campaign around Bollywood star Nargis Fakhri for five of its collections.
Last year’s Akshaya Trithiya run was lighted up by the precipitous drop in gold prices on April 15 — the sharpest for the metal on a single day in 30 years — and the subsequent weakness that was there right through the month and the first two weeks of May.
On April 15 last year, the rate for 22k was around $1,478 an ounce, while in January of 2013 it was at the $1,700 mark. In December, it slipped to the lowest, $1,247 an ounce.
“The crash in April last year gave last year’s Akshaya Trithiya an artificial boost and it may be difficult to replicate the same volumes this year for that very reason,” said Shamlal Ahmad, managing director — international operations at Malabar Gold and Diamonds. “Gold prices have recovered from that base level in 2013; while consumer buying was at its peak in April and May of last year, the local market did have a good run during DSF 2014 (when nearly 7 tonnes were bought and there were daily raffle draws for 1 kilo of gold).
“The expectation in the trade is that this week’s Akshaya Trithiya will pull in shoppers courtesy of the promotions.”
