E-Commerce India - Buy Gold and Jewellery online

Traditionally, Indians love to buy gold in the form of Jewellery. Not just women but also men wear them as ornaments on their body. It is a custom to adorn women during marriage with Gold Jewellery. The bride carries the gold along with her and that gets passed to the next generation for a similar purpose. The quest for gold had never ceased to excite people in India. No wonder, India is the largest importer of Gold in the world !

For all practical purposes, people purchase gold from neighborhood Jewellery shops in the form of ornaments or pure gold as bars and coins. This involves multiple visits to different shops and cost comparisons (making charges, wastage charges, stone charges, taxes etc) across all these shops. In modern days, gold is purchased not just for ornaments, but also from an investment perspective and to hedge against inflation. This led to purchase of pure gold in the form of bars and coins from even banks and post offices. With increase in demand, finance gurus have come-up with innovative products around gold - like e-Gold and Exchange Traded Fund (ETF).

Interestingly, gold can be purchased in different formats from different online sources - thanks to technology !

Gold and Diamond Jewellery	Yes, Jewellery can be bought online. There are online stores like Bluestone and CaratLane, which offer extensive collection of earrings, bracelets, rings and pendants. With wide range of collection and better pricing options, people are not hesitating to buy online from these e-stores. Branded Jewellery stores like Tanishq also provide online buying options.
Bars and Coins	If one is interested to buy gold for future use or hedge against inflation, then one would select this option. One can buy such gold bars or coins from traditional Jewellery stores. But they can also be purchased online from banks like ICICI these days.
e-Gold	If you are concerned about keeping the pure gold safe once you buy the same, you can even buy it online and keep it safe with a custodian. National Spot Exchange Limited (NSEL) offers the facility to not only buy the gold online but also keep it in the demat format, unless we need delivery.
Exchange Traded Funds (ETF)	If one is looking at gold as a pure investment option, buying it in paper format is not a bad idea at all. In case of Gold ETFs, a fund house purchases gold on behalf of investors money and makes it available for trade on exchange. National Stock Exchange (NSE) provides such a facility for investors and traders in Gold.
Gold Futures	If one is interested in hedging their investments against inflation, he or she can purchase gold in the Futures Market online. MCX exchange provides a platform to trade in such gold futures.

With standards and transparency available in different channels, purchasing gold online is becoming a genuine option for customers. Once the trust is established, online Jewellery stores must be laughing all the way to the bank. Retailers must be happy to get a good bargain - be it Akshaya Tritiya or Marriage !

Apparently, if lot of e-commerce customers buy gold online, then the same customers would not think twice to buy low-priced daily-use commodities like Vegetables, Groceries and Apparel online. Is it not ?