Indiantelevision.com Team

(22 November 2007 4:00 pm)

BANGALORE: Rajesh Exports (REL) has finalised the launch of its premium retail jewellery chain of stores under the brand name of ‘Shubh Jewellers’. The company is launching the chain under an associate type business model across four states in South India - Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.

REL has finalised associate agreements with jewellers for the launch of 100 ‘Shubh Jewellers’ stores across these states. An official release claims that REL has completed all the formalities including stocking of inventory for the launch of the first phase during the first week of December. ‘Shubh Jewellers’ will offer five thousand exclusively designed 22kts jewellery pieces to the customers with guarantee of purity at the lowest gold prices and making charges.

As reported earlier, REL purchased all the 30 outlet assets of OyzterBay in India and repositioned them under a new store brand name ‘Laabh’ (profit) to cater to the higher end of the jewelry market.

REL is planning for two TV campaigns during the current financial year ending March 2008 - the first campaign between December and end January 2008, and the second campaign to commence in the second or third week of February 2008. The company is in talks with a couple of other channels for spots during the first phase.

TVCs’ during the second phase will be in Hindi, English and most regional languages. REL plans to beam them across all national channels (GEC, news and lifestyle channels) and regional channels. According to industry sources the company’s negotiations are in advanced stages with ETV for ad spots.

REL who claim to be the largest gold jewelry manufacturers in the world had earlier joined up with Fossil, a leader in fashion watches and accessories in a 50:50 joint venture with Fossil India (FIL) with four main objectives - To set up a manufacturing base in India to manufacture watches and other accessories under known brands and distribute these products in India mainly through wholesale and other channels; Setup a retail network in India which would retail the products of Fossil and REL; Jointly create a range of designs which would be offered to the global markets by the already established global distribution network of Fossil; Distribute Fossil’s globally known brands through the REL network.

The arrangement has been delayed due to problems at the US` end of Fossil, but still very much on, according to industry sources.