The day of love made happening and trendier

Diamond rings, disclosed to be associated with divorce and other failed relationships, are sold at lower prices than rings without a negative history, the study into the re-sale of diamond engagement rings has revealed.

That suggests previous academic research that claimed a single, clearly-defined market category is associated with a product’s success, is not the whole story, said the study’s researcher Anne Bowers, associate professor at Rotman School of Management University of Toronto in Canada.

 

The assumption there is that consumer expectations are fully met when an item cleanly fits into a category. “In some sense, these findings are the exact opposite,” Bowers noted.

“Here’s a product that technically speaking, fits exactly the criteria for an engagement ring, and yet you still have problems,” Bowers said. Two parts to the study revealed similar findings.

 

Analysis of data from 1.5 million eBay listings of diamond solitaire engagement rings over a 13-month period showed rings with no disclosed negative history were most likely to sell and at a higher price. 

Rings, where sellers disclosed a divorce or other failed relationship – marked by comments such as “not going to happen,” or “right ring wrong guy”, were less successful.

A separate attitudinal survey showed that even though participants believed a diamond ring from a divorce was most likely to be authentic – compared to the same one from a happy marriage or a jewellery store – it was the opposite when it came to how much they’ would be willing to pay for it. 

The study was published in the journal Advances in Strategic Management. Along with this, gifting personalised goodies seems to be a new fad, with couples taking to “print” their love for their beloved this Valentine’s Day. 

Lovers are not only investing time and creativity to impress their loved one but are also ready to spend a lot to make them feel special and loved.

“Valentine’s is the week of lovers and they leave no stone unturned to impress their bae (lover). People go for scrapbooks, love cards, t-shirts, explosion box and love jars to pamper their partners,” said Radhika Aggarwal, co-founder, Go Grab Gifts (G3).

“Everyone wants to stand out from the crowd and there is no better way to show how much a person means to you than a unique personalised gift. In earlier days, we used to manually invest time and resources in personalising gifts for our loved ones and now we are enabling people to impress their love in minutes,” said Bipin Narang, co-founder and global CEO, Printvenue.

“Our biggest consumers are people whom other printers/sellers find unprofitable. We provide our consumers the choice to order single quantity, at world-class quality, and at affordable pricing,” said Narang.

“In the last one year, our business has grown significantly as more customers are discovering the convenience, choice and quality,” he said.

Accoring to Narang, the current market size was close to $20 billion and around 5-10 per cent of the total market is addressable to Printvenue.

Printvenue offers over 600 products to customise and thousands of design templates to choose from so that people can express love uniquely in as less as Rs 200.

“The joy of seeing your loved one appreciate the effort behind your personalised gift has to be experienced because the efforts put in personalising goodies show how much a person means to you,” said Aggarwal.

According to the survey, men clearly understand what women want and are planning to gift what women desire.

Since Valentine’s Day, this year, is on a Sunday, 33 per cent respondents were planning to relax at home, while only 16 per cent were planning a trip.

While most people resort to conventional romantic dinners to celebrate Valentine’s Day, the more adventurous choose to take their beloved on a helicopter ride, said a recently conducted study.

According to the survey by deals platform Nearbuy of about 3,000 people, “45 per cent of the respondents opted for the option of taking their partners on romantic dinners, 39 per cent preferred to give a personalised gift and about 18 per cent people chose to take their special someones on a helicopter ride!” 

However, the survey showed that most people preferred to stick to a budget ranging anything between Rs3000 to Rs 5000 and not splurge mindlessly on the occasion. 

While 40 per cent Indians are willing to fork out an average of Rs 3,000, just about 10 per cent would go over the Rs 5000 bracket to buy presents for their partners. 

“People today are ready to spend and are yet not spend thrift when it comes to Valentine’s. They are online-savvy and are always on a look-out for great offers,” said Ankur Warikoo, CEO and Co-founder, Nearbuy.