Titan Company-owned CaratLane crossed Rs 3,000 crore in revenue in FY24 but posted a slight dip in profits, which it attributed to the company’s aggressive expansion strategy. In this interview, Chief Operating Officer Atul Sinha tells Pallabi Dey Purkayastha how its omnichannel strategy helped expand the market and busts a few myths around online delivery. (Edited excerpts)
CaratLane logged over Rs 3,000 crore in revenue in FY24. How do you plan to sustain this momentum?
What differentiated us was how we made everyday jewellery — including diamond jewellery — affordable. Every month we launch 100 or so new designs, all of them in the CaratLane language for daily wear —modern and stylish. That is the primary reason our customers keep coming back to us and even new customers find us attractive. The way we market and build our community presence has also been a game changer for us. We now offer the full omnichannel stack to customers. We also have a video-calling feature where the customer can get on a live call with our consultants and see the designs from their homes. We have a very large retail presence — with 280 stores in more than 100 cities — and we are obsessed with customer experience.
How has consumer buying behaviour evolved in the jewellery market?
One part of it has to do with how the lifestyle of customers is changing and the fact that they have more money in their hands now. The other things is, earlier customers used to think of jewellery primarily as an investment opportunity. Today, many of them consider jewellery as a lifestyle product though a majority still probably buy jewellery from an investment point of view.
The other big difference is that earlier customers had a family jeweller, they trusted that jeweller, that’s where they went. Today, many new options have come up and people have become more experimentative. They’re open to trying out brands that give them great design and great value. That has opened up a vast opportunity for us. With digitisation, customers are spending more time online and we have been able to connect with customers and help them discover jewellery online.
What specific measures has CaratLane taken to ensure safe delivery of precious jewellery items?
We follow a multi-step process. First, packing of jewellery orders is done under high definition cameras at our fulfilment centres. There’s complete traceability of any product that is shipped out from our end. We put them in tamper-proof packaging. Then we tell the customer in advance not to take delivery if they see something torn or cut. They should just refuse to accept delivery. The third thing is, the delivery is fully insured. So in case a customer does not get the jewellery she ordered, it’s covered by insurance. There is no risk to the customer on that front. In our early days, a lot of customers had similar questions on their minds. Over time, they have come to trust us.
You mentioned at the outset that design has played a crucial role in your growth. So how does CaratLane ensure that its collections resonate with contemporary tastes?
We have a large in-house design team, and we also work with partners outside — both in India and globally — who have vast experience in design and know what is trending. We are able to leverage our own strength as well as that of the community outside to make sure we bring designs that are modern and differentiated.
Every marketer worth his salt talks about how technology has upended their category. How has CaratLane leveraged technology to smarten up customer experience?
It may not be obvious to a customer but there is a lot of background work that goes into making the whole process seamless for her. From the moment he/she starts browsing casually to the moment he/she begins viewing products, there is a whole engine at the backend trying to understand the customer’s behaviour and offer her what she’s truly going to love.
Is there a new category within the jewellery market that you would like to keep high on the agenda?
Mangalsutra is a category that has played a very big role in helping us reinvent our designs because it is a product that is crucial to married women in India. A lot of the mangalsutra design was very traditional so CaratLane came in with what we call modern mangalsutras. Our focus is more on bringing innovation and creating new designs that can bring style as well as functionality to our customers and therefore, give them something unique in a category that has existed for years.
How effective is the influencer market in your category? For instance, how has your new campaign with YouTuber Nancy Tyagi measured up?
There are two things here. One is that we believe in democratising jewellery and making every woman in India feel that they can be a winner, that they can be a celebrity in their own right. Our association with Nancy Tyagi brought to life this whole thought process. We looked at the engagement rate on our social channels and the results have made the whole effort worthwhile.