Dubai Gold and Jewellery Group Chairman warns of bleak future for the industry without innovative marketing strategies

Speaking during the first session of the final day of the 4th Dubai - City of Gold Conference at the Park Hyatt, titled 'Marketing - Are We On The Right Track?', Mr. Abdullah said that the gold and jewellery industry was not keeping up with international marketing strategies adopted by those in the fashion, perfumery and leisure industries, and made a fervent appeal to those engaged in, and benefiting from the gold trade to come together to formulate innovative marketing strategies that would help them face the numerous challenges posed by global marketing trends.

'My clarion call is to all those who are in the jewellery industry and those benefiting from our industry to come forward and be innovative and constructive in their thinking. Please approach the need of marketing jewellery with some amount of urgency. Our products give value that lasts for ever and is fair to the consumer for the hard earned money she or he pays', Mr. Abdullah said.

Addressing the international marketing 'gurus', international delegates and industry players, who were assembled at the conference, Mr. Abdullah called for their assistance to help rectify any shortcomings in the way jewellery was being marketed around the world.

'I will not be wrong to say, modern marketing is quite new for the jewellery trade. One of the reasons could be that for gold and jewellery there was no need to market. Gold and jewellery had been a part and parcel of our culture and basically had no competition. Is that the situation today? Of course not. As I have all along been stating at the top of my voice, today the reverse is true'.

'If we do not market jewellery, we have a bleak future. We have competition from everything that an end consumer is interested to indulge in. More competition is from products which are by and large new due to the evolution of our culture with the pressure of modernization of our lifestyle - 'westernization'. Unlike jewellery, most of these products like perfumes, leisure travel, fashion and vacation, have no real value'.

He said that successful marketing strategies have made it impossible for men and women to live without such products, which are mostly international brands, created at low cost but marketed at very high expense.

'These companies are very well compensated for their investment, because these items are not cheap. In fact, they are very highly priced and if you have seen in the recent past, these prices are increasing every other day'.

Complimenting the marketers of these products, Mr. Abdullah described them as mostly multinationals with some of the best brains in their fields, and who were highly paid.

'It is a very expensive game. Gold and jewellery have been a victim of this modern wave', he added.

He hoped that the CIBJO, the federation of jewellery associations in the world would become the driving force for the initiative undertaken by Dubai to formulate a unified global jewellery marketing strategy.

The conference, which was inaugurated by His Highness Sheikh Ahmed Bin Saeed Al Maktoum, President of Dubai Department of Civil Aviation and Chairman and Chief Executive of Emirates Group, was organized for the 4th consecutive year by the Dubai Gold and Jewellery Group, to provide a platform for key regional players in the gold and jewellery sector to help address the challenges faced by the industry as a whole, and further enhance Dubai's position as the regional hub for the gold and jewellery trade.

The key focus areas of the conference were Marketing, Innovation, Education and Trade Finance which were carefully chosen to facilitate sustained and increased growth for the industry.

The annual event, which is supported by the Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC), was attended by than 500 delegates including a line-up of the world's leading experts in finance, research and commodities, who spoke on a variety of topics that impact on the gold and jewellery trade ranging from bullion banking to cargo handling, and marketing to mining.

The key sponsors of the conference were Standard Bank, HSBC, Transguard and National Bank of Fujairah. The conference was also supported by World Gold Council, DTC and National Bank of Dubai.