Full-length mirror panels and contemporary wall fixtures welcome you to the 17th Entice Boutique in India. Opened in Mumbai on May 2, 2014, coinciding with the auspicious Akshaya Tritiya, this newest jewellery boutique couldn’t have decided upon a more appropriate date for launch! We visit the store to check on its ambiance and interiors and how well they have managed to gel the same with their collection.
Women and jewellery remain inseparable. And players in the category of jewellery retail understand this very well. A well-designed collection, enticing ambiance and charming sales service, if you have a combination of all these three things set well, turning a potential customer into a patron of your brand isn’t something you need to worry about! Housed in a heritage building at Opera House in Mumbai, the recently launched Entice-Queen’s boutique is aesthetically designed with subtle use of contemporary walls fixture and panels to compliment and highlight the jewellery designs. Delna Pooniwala, Senior Business Development Manager, Entice shares: “All Entice boutiques are based on the design philosophy of traditional-meets-contemporary. One can find traditional arches along with contemporary furniture and display systems.”
Unlike other boutiques, this particular boutique from the brand is a part of a heritage building. Hence, the onus of maintaining the look and feel was paramount. Even a wrong choice of colour would have created a complete mismatch for the look and feel of the store and hence minutest details had to be taken care of. Pooniwala adds: “The biggest challenge for the boutique was to work in a heritage building and to still come out with a very high-end retail space. Construction inside a heritage building needs a lot of care and involves much permission from authorities, etc.” The people behind the brand and the store take pride in stating that this particular retail space happens to be the finest and biggest retail space for the brand till date. The colour story adopted for the boutique is that of beige and brown and, according to Pooniwala, this is standard for all the boutiques.
Catering to the SEC A+ and A set of target audience, care has been taken to have a uniformed staff who sport a well-tailored suit with customised training given to them on the etiquettes of customer service and customer relationship. The brand undertakes associations with various brands for co-promotion activities. This is definitely a good marketing pull to not only let the customer feel pampered but it also helps in a better word-of-mouth publicity for both the brands. During the launch, Entice allowed its customers to feel comfortable with its collection from Estee Lauder.
Pooniwala shares: “The boutique has been designed to take care of the choosiest customer of today. The seating arrangement is done specially to create privacy for each client with curved counters and plush chairs. For clients in need of a more informal and relaxed approach, two opulent lounges have been created in the boutique with imported wallpapers and chandeliers to create the mood. The customer shopping experience is enhanced with fresh beverages and delectables offered to the clients by the courteous staff.” The entire look and feel of the boutique is subdued, thus extending a very ‘homely’ feel to the entire ambiance. From the first step you take in, it automatically manages to make you ‘feel at home’. The staff is trained to engage in conversation with you that just doesn’t sound like a salesperson talking to a potential client; it is an extremely personal experience given to whosoever walks in.
There are separate sections for various types of jewellery on display. As one enters, the solitaire section, the first in line on display, showcases the international collection, which then leads to the kundan polki section. Various props are used to display jewellery according the collections or the product. There are two private lounges also for a more exclusive shopping experience. The seating arrangement is royal from the choice of upholstery to the customer service extended. Elaborating on the collection, Pooniwala reveals: “Various collections under diamond jewellery plus an elaborate range of our Hong Kong manufactured diamond jewellery is available. The latest kundan polki collection ‘Katha’ is also available at the new boutique.”
For any jewellery store, lights play a significant role to highlight the collection and entice the customer. At Entice, the architect has ensured the use of high-quality lights to add sparkle to the jewellery. Elaborating on this, Pooniwala says: “A subtle mix of LED lights to save energy and CDMT light to increase the intensity of light have been put to use to add to the sparkle of diamonds with no spillage of light.”
Sharing some words of advice for fellow jewellery retailers, Pooniwala says: “A good boutique planning is crucial. The plan and layout need to be such that they make the space appears bigger than what it actually is. Use of mirrors should be very creative, as most customers try on the jewellery, and one should have large looking mirrors. The window displays need to highlight the jewellery within and make it look tempting enough to try.”
