G Rajendran founded G R Thangamaligai in 1964, in the then fast-growing shopping hub of Chennai (formerly Madras). Like all great success stories, GRT as the shop is fondly called by customers, began from humble origins. The brand today offers a wide collection of jewellery in gold, diamond, platinum, silver, with or without precious stones.
We built their first website in 2002 which was also among the first website to sell jewellery online. The site has been a roaring success since then and a revamped version just went live.
The D'zine Garage web strategy involved a complete redesign, a host of unique interactive features and modules. Since the site has just been launched, we are working on a strategy to make the site a benchmark in the jewellery industry.
The showcase area
A well classified product gallery featuring jewellery in gold, diamonds, platinum, silver; special collections like Fire and Earth, Antique and Ethnique, Silversmith and Thirumangalyam (traditional marriage ornaments). The collections are meticulously shot and offer a zoom in feature.
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The Offers section enables users look for products that are discounted or those with offers tagged on.
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The gift finder module, offers customers the benefit of of finding a desired product by specifying jewellery type, related ornament and a price band.
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Separate showcase sections have been created for new products and temple jewellery
Special features of the website
The Auspicious Day calendar, earmarks all the auspicious days according to the religious calendar, on which gold buying is recommended. Thus, customers can plan to purchase GRT jewellery to coincide with these auspicious days.
Another unique feature is Bejewelled, where registered users can choose jewellery, upload their photo, see themselves adorned with their jewellery of choice and share these images with family and friends, if they choose to.
Buying online
Since prices of gold and precious metal jewellery vary with fluctuations in international prices, we have devised a unique online commerce variation. Users drop their jewellery of choice into the cart, and in return get a quote based on the day's metal prices, including VAT and shipping charges as applicable. The potential buyer has a 24-hour online purchase window, after which new prices will reflect, if applicable.
Website maintenance
The website is developed using our very own BrewMaster CMS on the .NET platform. The CMS has been customised to accommodate some very specific needs of the jewellery business.
What did we do?
- Web Strategy
- Design and XHTML/CSS
- Technology development and integration
- CMS (BrewMaster) integration
- Ecommerce (BrewCommerce) integration
- Payment Gateway integration
- Setup and installation of an SSL certificate
Technology used
Server side - C#.Net 3.5
Client side - XHTML, CSS, AJAX
Database - MS SQL Server