Merchandiser – Studded – SCM Diamonds

Confidential Company

Position Overview

The Merchandiser – Studded Jewellery Category is responsible for end to end ownership of the studded jewellery business, spanning diamonds, polki, uncut, and gemstone set gold jewellery. The role blends creative product curation with strong commercial acumen, ensuring collections resonate with customer preferences while delivering optimal margins, inventory health, and category growth.

Key Responsibilities

• Own and drive the studded jewellery category strategy across diamonds, polki, uncut, colored gemstones, and precious stone–set gold jewellery, aligned with brand positioning and customer cohorts.

• Curate, assort, and scale collections across bridal, occasion, daily luxe, festive, and heirloom-led segments, balancing innovation with commercial viability.

• Develop region-wise assortments reflecting local bridal customs, usage occasions, stone preferences, budget bands, and cultural aesthetics.

• Plan category depth and SKU architecture across neckwear, bangles, rings, earrings, chokers and sets.

• Evaluate studded jewellery based on design integrity, craftsmanship, stone quality, clarity, cut, colour, setting security, gold weight efficiency, and wearability.

• Partner with design and Karigars to translate concepts into CADs, prototypes, stone layouts, accurate weight projections, and cost-efficient constructions.

• Oversee development using 18K, 22K, platinum, and multi-metal combinations, ensuring alignment with hallmarking and international quality standards.

• Drive differentiation through signature motifs, innovative stone arrangements, contemporary silhouettes, and modular designs.

• Lead seasonal, bridal, and thematic collections from concept creation and sampling to bulk production and launch readiness.

• Source studded jewellery from approved vendors, ateliers, and stone partners, ensuring compliance with ethical sourcing, certification, and quality benchmarks.

• Manage vendor negotiations on stone rates, labour costs, wastage, lead times, and value additions.

• Coordinate closely with production teams to track sampling, approvals, stone procurement, setting accuracy, and finishing quality.

• Proactively identify and mitigate risks related to stone shortages, QC failures, weight variances, setting issues, and production delays.

• Develop robust gold- and stone-linked pricing frameworks accounting for metal rates, diamond/gemstone value, labour, overheads, and target margins.

• Implement pricing strategies considering design complexity, craftsmanship, stone rarity, market benchmarks, competitive positioning, and customer willingness to pay.

• Review and recalibrate pricing dynamically in response to gold volatility, diamond rate movements, and festive demand cycles.

• Monitor and manage inventory health, SKU ageing, sell-through, stock turns, GMROI, and category contribution.

• Drive corrective actions on slow movers, overstock risks, and imbalance in depth or pricing architecture.

• Conduct rigorous post-launch reviews to refine future collections, improve hit rates, and enhance commercial outcomes.

• Track studded jewellery trends, bridal buying behaviour, gemstone preferences, design evolution, and regional pricing benchmarks.

• Analyze walk-in feedback, customization requests, returns, client feedback, and occasion-based buying patterns.

• Incorporate insights from festive cycles, wedding seasons, macroeconomic indicators, and consumer sentiment into buying decisions.

• Work closely with visual merchandising teams to translate product stories into impactful in-store displays and luxury narratives.

• Support sales teams with structured product knowledge modules covering stone education, design intent, value propositions, and styling guidance.

• Partner with marketing and e-commerce teams on launch planning, catalogues, digital content, storytelling, and campaign assortments.

• Ensure smooth store and regional rollouts, aligned with store profiles, cluster demand, and capacity planning.