The Co-founder and CEO says that Qween Jewels is curating collections around different consumer personas while focusing on original design language, craftsmanship and storytelling
The jewellery industry is undergoing an ‘FMCG-fication’, where similar designs are increasingly being sold across brands as many source products from the same external manufacturers, said Amit Kumar, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Qween Jewels. Kumar added this has reduced product differentiation in the market, prompting the company to focus on design-led collections with distinct craftsmanship and storytelling instead of a commoditised approach.
“FMCG-fication here is the same design you see at multiple stores. Even if you put products from five different brands together and ask a brand to identify its own product, they will not be able to do so. The reason is that all of these bigger brands buy products from the same external manufacturers and there is very little internal manufacturing or internal designing,” Kumar told BW Retail World in an interview.
Kumar noted that Qween, backed by Ranbir Kapoor and Aamir Khan, is built around an experience-led retail model that shifts jewellery buying from an assisted, transaction-led process to one centred on self-discovery, allowing customers to browse collections independently. He added that the brand is curating collections around different consumer personas while focusing on original design language, craftsmanship and storytelling to create a distinct identity for every piece.
Putting The Consumer In Charge
Kumar said one of the biggest gaps in jewellery retail is that stores continue to put the jeweller in control of the buying journey, with customers typically entering only after they have almost made up their mind to purchase. “More than 95 per cent” of consumers walk into a jewellery store only when they are certain about a purchase because “there is no exploration or there is no experience that happens inside a traditional jewellery store,” he said.
As per Kumar, the company wanted to borrow the shopping behaviour consumers are familiar with in fashion retail. “Can there be a store where you can browse as you want, just like how you do in Zara or H&M?” he asked. “The consumer is in charge and not the retail,” Kumar said, adding that while sales staff remain available for assistance, the idea is to make the buying journey “more experiential” and centred on “self-discovery.”
He added that Qween’s product philosophy also stems from the same thinking. “Each and every product has to have a language… a craftsmanship story… a design story,” Kumar said. “The design should talk about the consumer and not about the product themselves,” he noted, adding, “Consumer should wow the person and not the jewellery,” with every collection designed to complement the wearer rather than become the centre of attention.
Curating Collections Around Consumer Personas
Expanding on its experience-led retail strategy, Kumar said Qween has organised its stores around different consumer “personas” rather than conventional product categories. “When you discover yourself, you have multiple facets in you… multiple moods of you,” he said, adding that each zone, from party and pride to love and gala grandeur, is designed to reflect a specific mindset or occasion.
He explained that every collection is built around a story that resonates with the consumer instead of focusing solely on the jewellery itself. “When we curate a collection, it resonates or it celebrates all those individualities,” Kumar said, adding that each design is meant to “complement” the consumer’s personality and achievements.
Unlike a mass-market display, Kumar said the assortment will remain tightly curated. Each collection will feature around 30 to 40 products, with three to four collections under every persona (five to six), allowing customers to browse without creating what he described as an “FMCG kind of a display.” “Since we are curating with so much of a detailed craftsmanship, so much of a detailed language in design,” he said, the emphasis will remain on depth of storytelling rather than the breadth of stock-keeping units (SKUs).
Building Destination Stores Before Scaling
Kumar said Qween will focus on tier 1 cities during its first two years before expanding into fast-growing tier 2 markets. “Definitely tier 1… for the initial two years,” he said, adding that cities such as Lucknow, Ahmedabad and Chandigarh are witnessing strong consumer growth.
The company is also betting on large-format stores rather than a wider network of smaller outlets. Kumar said Qween’s stores will typically span 5,000 to 8,000 square feet, housing multiple consumer personas, technology integrations, a café and a dedicated gemstone experience centre. “We will be sticking to the large format store,” he said, adding that the company is targeting operational break-even within five to six months, while financial break-even will take longer due to the upfront investments.
On store location strategy, Kumar noted that Qween is prioritising lifestyle shopping destinations over traditional jewellery hubs. “The store has to be a large format store” and “it has to be near or in the market of a lifestyle brand,” he said. While positioning itself as a luxury jewellery brand, he noted that its “code of retailing is very much lifestyle”, with locations chosen to attract consumers who prefer browsing and experiential shopping.
Backing Luxury With Supply Chain And Technology
Kumar said Qween’s luxury positioning is built as much on its supply chain as on design. Backed by global diamond house Rosy Blue and Japanese jewellery brand Kashikey, which has committed Rs 1,000 crore to the venture, the company has secured end-to-end access to its diamond supply chain and over 70 types of natural gemstones. “One aspect of when you build a luxury brand… is how do you differentiate your supply chain,” he said.
Explaining the company’s sourcing strategy, Kumar said Rosy Blue’s backing allows Qween to access “the entire end-to-end supply chain” and focus on what it calls the best-quality natural diamonds. “Nine out of ten diamonds are manufactured in India, but the best-class quality… India has not seen yet because most of these diamonds have been exported,” he said. Qween is also introducing what it calls “Impossible Diamonds”, where “every smallest of the diamond is perfectly cut” and exhibits “hearts and arrows”, a pattern associated with precision cutting and higher brilliance.
Kumar said ethical sourcing goes beyond provenance and is intended to improve the quality proposition for consumers. “We have transparency right from rough to polish,” he said, adding that access to the entire value chain enables the company to select only the top five to 10 per cent of natural gemstones. “This is how the value enhancement happens for the consumer… give them the best quality in India which they have never seen before.”
