What’s your opinion on starting up a new venture of testing the purity of purchased jewelry.
The idea is to buy hi-tech machines which can test the purity of jewelry. We can setup shops in areas where we have many jewelry shops.
Anyone who spends a fortune on jewelry would not mind spending some extra amount to confirm/verify the purity of their purchase.
The charges can be again PER GRAM basis with a minimum charge for smaller weights.
Nirav Parekh
Hi Sanjay,
I think this is a great idea. The Indian jewellery market is largely unorganised and driven by families of jewellers over generations. Years ago, when the Tata group got into this business, the carat-o-meter was their selling point, and established trust in brand ‘Tanishq’. However, their move has a loophole, that you have covered up nicely.
The biggest positive of this idea: You are in it for the testing itself, not for selling your own jewellery.
However, you have yourself said what your biggest weakness will be: It is not you, not your idea, nor your business, but the machines that test for purity and provide the trustworthiness of your business. This means anybody with the capital to buy these machines can jump in, and compete with you.
To counter this, think of areas where you can build into this idea that become difficult for others to copy. Some examples:
1) Keep your business a secret.
You don’t know how big your lawyer is. And he will never tell you stuff about his other clients. But if he is good, you will always recommend him to your friends and relatives. Work in a similar way. Let your business grow by word of mouth, and offer to sign an agreement that you will never disclose the amount of gold your clients possess.
2) Develop a ranking of all jewellers in your area.
Not all jewellery of all clients needs to come to you. You may offer a service where, in exchange for a fee, you just have to share the trustworthiness score of your client’s jeweller. This can be collected based on past data that you have about jewellery bought from him by other clients.
3) Become a jewellery consultant.
Hold workshops of how can clients buy jewellery from traditional jewellers and still ensure that they are not being cheated.
Wish you all the best.
Regards,
Nirav
SANJAY DODRAJKA
Thanx a ton Nirav. I definitely missed out on some points you have highlighted.