Waiting to strike gold
One piece of jewellery is sold every three minutes online on eBay India. Just three months ago, it was one every four minutes.
This rising velocity of transaction, as Deepa Thomas, Head (Pop Culture), eBay India, puts it, has set the Net all aglitter. E-commerce players say the jewellery category is the most buoyant online.
In value terms too, gems and jewellery sales are sparkling - it's not just cheap beads and baubles selling, but even the occasional solitaire worth Rs 50 lakh is going at the click of a mouse.
At Chennai-based Caratlane, a Web site which sells certified diamonds as well as readymade and custom-made diamond jewellery, transactions average Rs 15,000. But according to Kalaivani Sadagopan, Senior Vice-President, there have been instances of bangles ranging around Rs 3 lakh-4lakh selling online.
Not surprisingly, big offline jewellery merchants such as Gitanjali and Tribhovandas Bhimji Zhaveri (TBZ) are polishing up their Web act. If TBZ has run huge banner ads online and is active on Facebook, then Gitanjali Gems began hiring more people in October 2011 to get serious about its online business.


