A Product Management prospective on Jewellery containers

Until very recently in my life, I had neither owned any jewellery nor bought any jewellery. Last year I got married (a typical big fat Indian wedding) and so was suddenly introduced to the world of the Indian jewellery market. Apart from appreciating how lucrative this market is, what really surprised me was the complete lack of innovation in jewellery packaging. In this blog, I will try to point out some of the obvious customer pain points when it comes to storing, using and managing jewellery as well as very easy/simple solutions for the same.

Most people keep just a few ornaments at home and keep the rest of their jewellery in a bank locker, where the standard locker sizes are too small. However, most jewellery brands (both corporate brands and local shops) seem oblivious to this obvious fact. Thus the packing in which the jewellery (rings, necklace, earrings etc.) comes from the shop is hardly ever used, except for first time showcasing. They are then discarded in a forgotten corner of the house. The packaging is so bulky that their only use is for display purposes and not for continuous future use. Customers are forced to use ad-hoc measures to store, organize and use jewellery. I believe that all brands have missed a very simple low-hanging fruit here.

Every company wants brand recall each time the user is interacting with its product. Since it is very difficult to put a logo in the ornaments themselves, it is extremely surprising to me that companies do not take extra measures to ensure that jewellery packaging (having the brand logo) is retained and used again and again by the customers. If you compare the jewellery industry with other consumer wearables such as spectacles or watches, the difference in packaging & branding is extremely stark. Spectacle brands put a lot of thought behind the spectacle case. There are a huge variety of spectacle cases from being extremely hard to lightweight; from being opaque to fully transparent etc. and using a very wide range of materials and styles. The same is the case with watches and every other consumer wearables.

The user requirements for ornament packing for continuous usage, are significantly different from spectacles/watches. I have listed down all the requirement here -

1. Small Size: The packaging (for ring/necklace or earrings) should be as small as possible because customers will either store it in Bank Lockers (which are small & expensive) or conceal it in a hidden corner in their homes, for the fear of being stolen. At the time of gifting, customers want big packaging but not at the time of using it. They ideally want the packaging to be inconspicuous and easy to hide. This key insight is missing in most packaging solutions currently in the market. 
2. Personal Context Information: There is a strong latent customer need to record the source (name of the person/organization) from where the ornament has come and the occasion (marriage/anniversary/birthdays etc.) for which it was bought/gifted. Currently, customers memorise these details but a significant percentage of customers will willingly undertake the effort to write/print these details down if provided an easy method/place for doing this. Customers love refreshing these details and memories each time they wear the jewellery. Jewellery has great nostalgic value in addition to other functionalities. Moreover, this is a great place to put company logo and increase brand recall.
3. Being part of a larger group: Customers don't store each ornament (or set) separately. Customers store all their jewellery together or in separate groups. For example, customers might store all rings together or all the different earing together. Some customers store artificial jewellery separately and some store them along with the original/precious jewellery. The underlying point for any jewellery packaging is that everyday usable packaging should be able to co-exist along with other types of ornaments in a small space. If possible it should be able to connect to another ornament packaging. It should not allow the ornament to get entangled and help customers to easily search for the right ornament in the overall container/package.
4. Digitizing bills and Purity Certificates: Customers fear losing the physical bill for their ornaments. Jewellery is perhaps the only category of consumer goods, where customers value the bill so much. Most Indian customers want to sell the ornament at the same shop from where they have bought their jewellery as they remain sceptical of the weights/purity and other details mention in the bill. Hence having a barcode / QR code in the packaging from which a digital copy of the bill and original purity certificate can be reproduced, can have a very big customer impact.
5. Keeping Track of all valuables: There is a latent need for keeping count/track of all jewellery. A growing problem among the new generation is that they are finding it difficult to keep track of all their jewellery. The new digital generation will ideally like to keep photos as well for archival purposes. There is currently no easy solution to this problem without involving extra efforts (mental/physical) which the customer is unwilling to do. However simple packaging ideas such as number stickers can easily solve this problem.  

The biggest question that I am assuming most readers will have is, whether it is worth the time,  effort and cost for any organization to come up with packaging solutions, which solves these customer pains and latent demands. Moreover, any new innovative packaging solution will be an add-on to the existing packaging, which serves the purpose of showcasing the jewellery & has become a default customer requirement. My answer to this question is an emphatic YES. The customer pains in this area are large enough for customers to take immediate notice and appreciation of the right solution. This is not only relevant for people who love organizing thing but also an average disorganized consumer, who would love the luxury feeling associated with specialized packaging for everyday usage. Apart from being a great differentiator, the brand recall advantages would be enormous. 

I can suggest multiple prototypes of packaging which will solve all the above customer pains/concerns as well as being easy to use, easy to stack and easy to track. My favourite form factor is rectangles of different standardized sizes (from credit card size to A5 sheet size) with as less thickness as possible. They are can be easily opened using a simple push and can be easily connected together. The interior design should make a small click sound when ornaments are fixed properly. There must be a place for personal context information, numbering as well as QR codes. Of course, branding would play as important a role as functional aspects, for any final packaging design. I am sure that professional designers can come up with much better solutions by working with a well-informed Product Manager. The number of potential innovations waiting to happen in traditional industries is staggering. I sincerely hope to see some changes in jewellery packaging soon.