GJEPC Organises Virtual Buyer-Seller Meet

In an endeavour to revive the gems and jewellery exports, GJEPC has initiated a series of buyer-seller meets (BSMs) for every product category. Beginning with loose diamonds, it will be a one to one focussed meet.

Each meet will be of 40 minutes, 10 visitors and 10 exhibitors will participate. Most of the visitors are from China – as the market is already open and the Chinese are ordering goods from India. GJEPC has done its own research for these BSMs.They have used augmented reality software and their virtual format is unique.

GJPEC is trying to make it better than real life meets.They have ensured that communication will be routed through servers, so it will be secure. Colin Shah, Chairman, GJEPC; Suresh Kumar, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Commerce; Senthil Nathan,Deputy Secretary in the Department of Commerce and Dilip Shah participated in the inaugural session.

In his opening remarks, Suresh Kumar, Joint Secretary, MOC & I congratulated the Council’s efforts and said, “Virtual buying-selling formats will be the new normal going forward. As we do not know how fast this scenario is going to change, and we cannot wait for the pandemic to go away, so it’s prudent to shift to a virtual platform through which buyers and sellers can continue doing business in confidentiality with secured measures. I’m happy that this is one of India’s most promising sectors in terms of merchandise exports. Although the trade has been hit because of the pandemic, we should capitalise on every growth opportunity, especially since green shoots of revival are visible in markets like the USA, China, and Europe. This is a great new beginning for the sector which must continue using this virtual platform extensively and make it a part of your regular marketing activity to connect with buyers from different countries and sectors.”

Colin Shah, Chairman, GJEPC addressing at the Inauguration, “It’s a historic shift for GJEPC to conduct the first ever virtual buyer-seller meet. The pandemic has forced us to think out of the box. We went through several options on the technology front and we finally selected one that is proprietary and unique. We are really hoping that our manufacturers and traders on the diamond side are able to actually transact business without dilution in their experience. Although the pandemic has taken its toll, there have been good positives, markets like America and China are coming back strongly and this should translate into recovery of exports for us. Supply of rough was constrained so the polished prices remained stable.”

Some of the salient features of this Virtual Buyer Seller Meet are:
• Cloud storage for secure online trading; buyer-seller matching
• Optimal choice for buyers and sellers to choose gamut of options exhibited by the exhibitors
• Life-like experience simulation
• Since the format is virtual, no physical contact and conduct business from home or office
• Watertight parameters for trustworthiness
• Enhance networking opportunity
• GJEPC will assist in creating product catalogues or directories of high-resolution images for exhibitors on the Council’s VBSM website
• Buyers will be able to search specific product types to find the exact merchandise they need
• The GJEPC website will make it easy for the buyer to view online product directory, even during live video meetings
• For the live one-on-one meetings between the buyer and seller, GJEPC will provide high-end cameras for product viewing during the interaction from the exhibitor’s office
• Up to 20 product images will be included in a VBSM package, which will be created and uploaded by GJEPC

GJEPC will manage, schedule and run video meetings directly through the GJEPC VBSM website platform, as per the scheduled dates and time. After the online matching of buyer and seller products, each meeting schedule between buyer and seller will be arranged for approximately 45 minutes; and in a day only 3 to 4 meetings will be planned between the buyer and seller. Meeting IDs will be created for each exhibitor, which will be shared with the buyer, to meet online at a scheduled time and discuss their business.