THE NEXT time you visit your favourite mall, don’t be surprised if you see avending machine actually vending diamond rings and gold pendants, instead of chocolates and snacks. “When the concept was launched in January this year, traditional jewellery consumers found the concept alittle hard to digest,” Jagdeep Kapoor, chairman and managing director, Samsika Marketing Consultants, said. Samsika is abrand marketing consultant for Grabbit, which launched this concept. “Earlier, people had less money and alot of time.

But now things have changed. Young people have alot of money and buy things on impulse,” he told MAIL TODAY . “Imagine, you want to buy a gift for your dear ones and have abudget of Rs 5,000, this concept would help you find the right gift,” he said, adding that the machine sells jewellery within the range of Rs 2,000 to Rs 8,000. “The machine has asmall screen that displays the range of jewellery products from which consumers can make their choice. Once the selection has been done, the consumer has to put in the appropriate currency inside the machine and the jewellery comes out,” he said.

Where aconsumer is not satisfied with the jewellery, it can be replaced within 48 hours by following asimple procedure. “Also, the company would freeze the price of gold and announce it on aregular basis. This way, the consumer would also benefit against aregular price,” he said. According to Kapoor, the company has taken alot of care from the security point of view. “The machines are absolutely tamper- proof and to break it open is virtually impossible. Other than that, we have special security guards manning the vending machines round the clock,” he added. “Initially, sales will be done on cash basis. We are in talks with the authorities so that soon customers can buy these items using their credit cards,” he said.

According to Kapoor, the concept of introducing non- food items was first started by the company in October 2006, when it started selling notebooks through these vending machines. Kapoor claimed that the idea was a“tremendous success”. “We have marketed cosmetics, jewellery, music CDs and DVDs and apparel,” he said. From just two vending machines, the company now has 200 outlets. It plans to open more such outlets in places such as Jaipur, Hyderabad, Pune and Bangalore soon, Kapoor said.

In Delhi, Samsika has signed up with 16 malls to setting up 22 machines. There are three parties involved in this transaction. First is the jewellery company, which makes the product. The second is Grabbit, which buys it from the jewellery manufacturing company. And the third party is the mall owner, in whose premises the vending machine is placed and through which the goods are sold. The jewellery company need not invest in huge stores. Grabbit and the mall owner are paid for their services.

On the potential of the business, Kapoor explained, “We have just started with afew cities. India has more than 5,700 cities with an estimated 12 million machines. The potential is huge,” he said. “In the next two years, five per cent of the total revenue for jewellery companies would come from such vending machines, while the figure is expected to increase to 15 per cent in five years,” Kapoor added.

Source: Mail Today,30th may 2008