Aiming to expand in the inexperienced jewellery market in India, Ratan Tata-backed BlueStone.com will be investing Rs 40 crore on marketing over the next 12 months.
The fine jewellery market in India is reportedly pegged at around $60 billion, of which online market accounts for a minimal portion. This is the gap that BlueStone is trying to make the best use of.
BlueStone claims to be on track to quadruple revenue to Rs 1,000 crores by 2018. BlueStone.Com CEO Arvind Singhal, said in a statement, “We are seeing a strong growth momentum as there is a clear shift in consumer mindset. The purchase is now towards trendier jewellery and we are focused on introducing new designs and collections for our customers…”
“Over the next 12 months, we will invest Rs 40 crore towards marketing. Investments are being made in educating customers about online jewellery buying as this segment is still in its nascent stages,” added Singhal.
The company has also introduced new facilities like home trials and chat options for prospective buyers. The average cart size ranges between Rs 25,000 and Rs 40,000 and has less than 5 percent return rate.
Singhal also revealed that the company expects to become Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) positive in the next 2-2.5 years.
It takes about three days to manufacture a design after it has been ordered at the companies Mumbai facility and up to five working days to deliver the product.
Singhal added, “We are aggressively expanding our offering and channels of reaching customers. Our home trials have seen significant growth. These results in 65 percent conversions and the ticket sizes are about 30 per cent higher…Right now, it’s about 5 percent of our revenue. We expect it to be about 5-8 percent of the sales.”
The company raised a funding of Rs 100 crore funding in July, last year. The funding round was led by Kalaari Capital and also saw participation from IvyCap Ventures, Accel Partners and Dragoneer Investment Group.
