Brands
Senco strikes gold with record Rs 1,700 Cr festive sales
MUMBAI: Talk about glittering results! Senco Gold & Diamonds has struck festive fortune, clocking record-breaking sales of over Rs 1,700 crore in October, the highest in its 85-year history. The sparkle came courtesy of Diwali and Dhanteras, as buyers flocked to stores undeterred by sky-high gold prices.
The jewellery giant reported a 56 per cent year-on-year jump in sales, with gold value surging 60 per cent and diamonds glittering 32 per cent higher compared to last October. Even as gold touched a record Rs 132,294 per 10 grams on October 31, Senco managed to grow both in volume and value, with a 4 per cent uptick in gold volume, 5 per cent in diamonds, and 8 per cent in silver.
New design launches, buoyant consumer sentiment, and irresistible festive offers kept cash registers ringing across Senco’s 185 stores in India and online platforms.
“These record numbers reflect a very positive customer sentiment,” said Senco Gold & Diamonds managing director and CEO Suvankar Sen. “We are geared up to meet the strong demand through the upcoming wedding season and beyond. Our focus remains on new design innovation, operational efficiency, and enhanced returns for our stakeholders.”
The company also expanded its footprint in October with new showrooms in Etawah, Bikaner, and Dehradun, while maintaining steady growth momentum with a 25 per cent year-on-year retail value increase across Q1, Q2, and October.
With 185 showrooms in India, two in Dubai, and eight Sennes lifestyle stores, Senco’s festive sparkle shows no sign of dimming. Even as gold prices reach dizzying heights, it’s clear that for Indian shoppers, love for gold never loses its shine.
Brands
Faber-Castell India appoints Sunaina Haldar as director – marketing
With stints at Tata, SleepyCat and ADF Foods under her belt, Haldar is primed to redraw Faber-Castell’s brand story
MUMBAI: Faber-Castell India has poached Sunaina Haldar from ADF Foods, appointing her director – marketing as the German stationery brand looks to muscle up in a category that is rapidly reinventing itself around creativity and self-expression.
Haldar hit the ground running. “My first couple of weeks have been incredibly energising, understanding consumers, visiting markets, engaging with retailers and immersing myself into the world of Faber-Castell Group,” she said.
She arrives with considerable firepower. At ADF Foods, Haldar ran marketing across India and international markets for a portfolio spanning Ashoka, Aeroplane, Camel and ADF Soul. Before that, she was vice-president – marketing at direct-to-consumer mattress brand SleepyCat, where she helmed brand, content and performance marketing. Her résumé also includes a stint leading marketing, new product development and CRM for Tata SmartFoodz at Tata Consumer Products, no small proving ground.
Between corporate roles, Haldar also operated as a fractional CMO for early-stage startups, building marketing strategy and operational structures from scratch, a signal that she knows how to move fast with limited resources.
With 18 years straddling FMCG, D2C and the startup world, Haldar now takes the reins at a brand that has long owned the classroom but is clearly hungry for the living room. In a stationery market where the pencil has become a lifestyle statement, Faber-Castell has picked someone who knows exactly how to sell that story.
