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As I learn more about the global recognition industry and the kind of merchandise companies use for their recognition programs, it surprised me that jewelry was a big component in North America. In the Indian business/cultural context, my first reaction was that I couldn’t see an employee recognition program having jewelry as a reward option as jewelry is considered too personal in India. When I researched this a little further, I came up with a number of other reasons for this:1) To call a piece of jewelry “gold” in India, the gold quality would have to be 18 carat or more (unlike in North America, where the gold quality can be 10 Carat or more). This means that gold jewelry will be expensive and may not fit into the budget of corporate recognition programs.
2) Gold still rules the jewelry market in India and other materials (even expensive ones like platinum) are not valued as well in the market. This makes it more difficult to use alternate materials which may bring the cost down. Also, "real jewelery" (made with genuine stones and high quality gold) has stood as a status symbol. So while imitation jewelry and lower priced jewelry may look as good, but they are not inherently valued by the users, and are typically considered a compromise.
3) Jewelery, in spite of the huge market size in India, is still largely an unorganized business sector, dominated by local, family owned players. This has meant that it isn't easy to precisely determine the quality of the product or go with a brand that's trusted.
4) The primary end users of jewelry are women and historically companies have employed far lesser women than men. According to publicly available data, women accounted for just 18.4% of the working population in the organized sector in India in 2003 (according to the Financial Express). For context: Contrary to popular perception, a large proportion of women in India work – primarily in the unorganized sector.
My thoughts on using Jewelry as a reward option in India - the best bet would be to stick to the following:
1) Genuine gold is hugely valued in India and a number of banks (e.g. www.icicibank.com) and large jewelry houses offer certified 24 carat gold coins (99.9 % purity). These sealed and well packaged gold coins could be an attractive product to include in a reward catalog.
2) There are a few branded jewelers who have established credibility in the market (Tanishq, Asmi & Gili). These retailers offer gift vouchers and certificates which can be included in the reward catalog.
I believe it also has to do with the way Indian consumers perceive precious metals such as Gold in their local context. Gold is largely viewed as a potential Investment instrument by an average common investor in India especially if we look at the scorching gold prices over a period of last 5/20 years and the returns generated by other potential Investment instruments such as debt, equity over a short term period therefore one has to think if the purpose of a good rewards catalog is to drive behavior by presenting an assortment of aspirational and motivating rewards, why would someone pick an investment instrument as a reward in a developing economy when he can also choose from a collection of more meaningful choices such as Cameras, LCD TVs etc.
ReplyDeleteI would think apart from offering Jewelery store vouchers, the best way to use these articles as effective reward options in a recognition program would be to position them as Fashion Accessories where one can offer not only options for women but also Tie Pins, cufflinks and similar accessories for men to make it a well rounded category of rewards that are suitable for all kind of audiences.