Jewellery brands bet big on digital as omnichannel reshapes buying journeys

India’s jewellery brands are accelerating their digital playbooks, even as brick-and-mortar stores continue to anchor consumer trust and high-value purchases.

While physical retail remains central to the category, industry players are increasingly investing in their online platforms, signalling a clear shift towards omnichannel strategies. From virtual try-ons and video-assisted shopping to seamless inventory visibility across stores and websites, brands are reimagining the buying journey to blend convenience with credibility.

This evolution marks a significant shift for a sector that has traditionally relied on tactile experience and in-store interactions. Today, digital touchpoints are shaping early-stage engagement, particularly among younger consumers who begin their journey online before heading to stores for final transactions.

Brands are also leveraging digital channels for discovery, education, and personalised engagement, using social media, content, and targeted marketing to drive both footfalls and online conversions. Industry experts note that while high-value purchases still skew offline, digital is increasingly influencing decision-making.

Shaifali Gautam, CMO, CaratLane said, “At CaratLane, digital has always been foundational to how we built the brand. Being digital-first early on helped us create transparency, trust, and ease in a category that was traditionally offline.”

 She added that consumer journeys now begin online, with customers browsing and shortlisting before visiting stores, making digital central to discovery and engagement. A large share of store purchases is digitally influenced, supported by content around design, styling and trends that builds intent. Digital drives consideration, while stores complete the experience.

Echoing this shift, Prashant Awasthi, CMO, Kisna Diamond & Gold Jewellery, said digital acts as an enabler rather than a replacement for physical retail, with discovery, research and trust-building increasingly happening online before store visits.

He noted that digitally savvy consumers, especially in Tier 2 and Tier 3 markets, are relying more on online platforms to evaluate brands. Digital, he added, helps showcase design, pricing transparency and brand ethos at scale, bridging the trust gap ahead of in-store interactions.

Awasthi said, “Our digital strategy is built around discovery, engagement, and conversion both online and offline. We leverage social media, search, and video platforms to inspire consumers with our latest collections, festive campaigns, and occasion led storytelling.” 

He added that content plays a key role in keeping the brand relevant and aspirational, spanning craftsmanship, styling inspiration and emotional storytelling. Importantly, campaigns are geared towards driving store footfalls rather than just website traffic, using tools such as store locators, geo-targeted ads and “visit nearest store” CTAs to convert online interest into offline purchases. Digital is also leveraged to tailor communication for regional markets where the brand has a strong retail presence.

Shantiswarup Panda, Head of Marketing & Visual Merchandising, Indriya, Aditya Birla Jewellery, earlier told e4m that jewellery marketing is increasingly digital-led, with over 50% of media spends allocated to digital and 80–85% of consumer journeys beginning online, even as in-store experiences continue to anchor trust and high-value purchases. 

In a similar vein, Shyamala Ramanan, Business Head, Mia by Tanishq, noted that while digital dominates the brand’s marketing mix, physical stores remain central given the category’s tactile nature, with online gaining traction in repeat and lower-ticket segments such as silver jewellery and coins, and quick commerce emerging for smaller, gifting-led purchases driven by convenience.

For TrueSilver, the shift towards digital is driven by evolving consumer behaviour, especially among younger audiences who are increasingly comfortable discovering and purchasing jewellery online, with categories like silver rings, chains and anklets gaining traction as everyday self-expression. Digital enables brands to showcase a wide portfolio, from everyday pieces to design-led collections, while allowing consumers to explore at their own pace. Rather than replacing trust, it is helping rebuild it through transparency, certification and consistent quality, with a focus on making silver jewellery more accessible and style-driven through content-led storytelling.

“We also leverage creators and platform-first formats to bring our collections to life highlighting versatility across products like silver chain for female, anklets for women silver, and layered styling trends. This helps drive discovery while also building aspiration,” said Abhishek Gupta, Co-Founder & Managing Director, ACPL Exports.

For DP Abhushan Ltd, digital serves as the first showroom experience, offering high-quality visual storytelling across its website and social platforms. This allows customers to access detailed information about the brand and its products before visiting a store, reducing friction at the purchase stage.

Vikas Kataria, Promoter, DP Abhushan Ltd said, “platforms such as WhatsApp help leverage conversational commerce to close the gap between browsing and buying and digital becomes a trust-building layer before the store visit.”

Adding an agency perspective, Aastha Beecham, VP – Digital Marketing at Puretech Digital, said the jewellery conversation is no longer about online versus offline, but about building trust across the entire consumer journey.

While offline remains critical for high-value purchases, she noted that discovery, research and brand validation now begin online. Digital drives consideration and pre-qualification, while offline delivers conversion and experience. She added that brands must shift from channel-led to journey-led planning, with digital increasingly driving store footfalls and high-intent walk-ins.

“Search has become foundational for jewellery brands because it captures high-intent demand, whether it’s gold rates, specific designs, or “near me” queries. This is where serious buyers begin, and brands should allocate more budgets here because it has a direct linkage to both online and offline conversion,” Beecham said. 

She added that Social is evolving beyond visibility to become a key driver of influence and education, led by creators. There is a shift from celebrity campaigns to more relatable influencer-led content spanning bridal journeys, styling, everyday wear and even investment narratives around gold and silver.

Marketplaces, she noted, remain selective for the category, working largely for lightweight and gifting segments, while most brands are strengthening their own digital ecosystems to retain control over trust and experience.

Rising marketplaces

Even as D2C ecosystems strengthen, marketplaces for jewellery brands, though relatively uncommon, are also seeing a push.

Arthi Ramalingam, Founder and CEO, Eternz, said digital enhances trust and discovery rather than replacing physical retail in a high-consideration category like jewellery.

She noted that such platforms address discoverability through curation, transparency around materials and certifications, and an intuitive experience, helping consumers navigate choice with confidence.

She added that discovery remains central, enabled by tech-led tools like virtual try-on and AI-driven recommendations that make the journey more engaging, while credibility is driven by strong brand storytelling, transparent product information, certifications and consistent quality checks.

“We’re seeing interest from both legacy players and emerging designers who recognise that discovery today starts online. For many of them, the challenge isn’t just visibility, it’s being discovered in a meaningful way,” Ramalingam said. 

A seamless omnichannel experience?

As brands double down on integration, the focus is shifting towards creating a seamless transition between online and offline touchpoints.

Gautam said the focus is on enabling customers to discover and shortlist products digitally before experiencing them in-store, with services such as Try-at-Home, C-Live consultations and CLTV-led discovery designed to make the journey continuous rather than channel-dependent.

“A seamless experience means that a customer who discovers a design online should be able to walk into any Kisna store and find that same product or at least a close variant without friction,” said Awasthi. 

He added that the brand is working towards tighter integration between its digital catalogue and in-store inventory to enhance product visibility and assisted selling. Retail teams are increasingly using digital tools, from showcasing extended collections on tablets to accessing customer preferences, to elevate the in-store experience and create a unified brand journey across channels.

Can online become dominant?

Despite the rise of digital, industry experts remain clear that online will complement, not replace, offline retail.

“Online jewellery purchasing will grow, but it won’t replace offline in the same way it has in other categories. Jewellery comes with inherent barriers like high ticket sizes, trust sensitivity, and strong emotional context, especially in occasions like weddings or milestone purchases,” said Pathare.

She added that digital-first decision-making is becoming mainstream, with consumers shortlisting designs, comparing prices and certifications, and evaluating brands online before visiting stores. This shifts the focus from where purchases happen to where decisions are made.

Digital now drives nearly 70–80% of the consideration journey, while offline remains the final conversion touchpoint. While online adoption is set to grow faster in lightweight and gifting segments, the category overall is moving towards an integrated omnichannel model.

Ramalingam said jewellery marketplaces are evolving from transactional platforms to discovery-led ecosystems built on trust, storytelling and design differentiation. She added that the future is hybrid, with consumers discovering and shortlisting online but purchasing across touchpoints, making seamless journey integration critical.

According to Kataria, digital marketing is not competing with retail but amplifying it, with discovery and trust-building happening online and conversions maximised in-store. He noted that while online will continue to scale, offline will remain dominant for high-value purchases, particularly in gold and bridal categories. The future, he added, lies in channel convergence rather than replacement.

Awasthi reiterated that jewellery will remain offline-heavy, especially for high-value purchases, but digital is increasingly shaping decisions even when transactions happen in-store. He added that online is gaining traction in lightweight and gifting segments, with the future pointing to a hybrid model where digital drives discovery and stores deliver final conversion.

Gupta added, “We see the category evolving into a strong omnichannel model rather than a complete shift in one direction. Offline will continue to play an important role, especially for high-value or occasion-led purchases. However, online is rapidly becoming mainstream for everyday categories.”

He noted that silver rings, anklets and lightweight sterling silver jewellery are seeing strong online adoption, driven by affordability, design variety and ease of purchase, as consumers increasingly experiment with everyday pieces. This creates an opportunity to build a category balancing aspiration and accessibility, backed by strong manufacturing expertise and certified purity to ensure design, trust and credibility online.

“Categories like 9KT and Shaya Diamonds are enabling more online purchases, particularly for gifting and lower ticket sizes. So while offline remains important, online will continue to grow as part of a blended, omnichannel journey,” concluded Gautam.