UAE gold jewellers shed their focus on 22 karats

The UAE’s gold jewellery retailers are shedding their obsession with the 22 karat. They are working to create a new generation of shoppers — the younger ones, preferably — and the way they are doing this is through the 18k route.

Their strategy is quite straightforward — 18k allows jewellers to experiment with more designs and come up with lighter pieces too, which is not something they can do as easily with 22k. And with more trendy designs to offer, the 18k collections can appeal to a younger shopper.

In short, gold jewellery as a fashion statement and not just as an investment. (In 18k, the gold component is about 70 per cent with alloys making up the rest. That is why it tends to more flexible than the 22k and 24k variants. On Monday, 18k was commanding Dh121 a gram in Dubai, while 22k was at Dh148 and 21k at Dh141.25.)

The Joyalukkas Group has just opened its first stand-alone store selling 18k — and diamond jewellery — at Dubai Festival City. And it has done so using a different name — “Amira” — for the store. Last year, Malabar Gold & Diamonds created its own stand-alone 18k stores under the ‘MGD’ banner.

Another jeweller, Dubai-headquartered Jawhara, had taken a different approach right from its inception in late 2014 — by focusing on the 18k and 21k.

Courtesy: Gulf news/ Image: Gulf news