Mumbai: Amid the online and digital consumption rise in the post-pandemic era, buying wedding ornaments in India continues to be in physical mode.

Though India has witnessed a rapid change in online buying during the pandemic and subsequently in the post-pandemic era – be it grocery or lifestyle. Buying an odd ring, earring or pendant online is fine, but Indian consumers largely step out to brick-and-mortar stores when it comes to purchases for weddings, said Sunil Nayak, CEO at Reliance Jewels, a part of Reliance Retail.

Nayak made the remarks while speaking at the concluding session of the two-day MAPIC India 2022 convention – formerly IRF (India Retail Forum).

“Customers are more demanding as no one wants to buy me-too products (similar products available in the market ). But managing inventory to churn out the maximum return on investment holds key,” Nayak said.

By rough estimates, Asia’s major economy India is expected to witness over 1 crore weddings annually giving 6 crore seekers out of the 50 crore unmarried people in the country.

Speaking at the same event, Rajendra Kalkar, President (Malls), The Phoenix Mills, said: “The conflict between physical and digital consumption has evolved from the rapidly tech-savvy customer across the globe that has bought disruption to retail and real estate.”

His company operates nine operational malls of over 640,000 square feet in India.
The two-day MAPIC India convention was attended by the captains of the retail industry across the spectrum with vibrant deliberations on the outlook ahead in the post-pandemic era.

The conclave was also supplemented with an exhibition of prominent retail, food and fashion brands that are on the verge of expanding their footprint in the country.
MAPIC India, established in 2004, is one of India’s premier annual events for the retail sector.