Indian Online Jewellery Market Expected to Reach $1B Soon: BlueStone

Not many e-commerce startups are out there in the jewellery domain, but some of them which are there in the sector have really carved out a niche for themselves. BlueStone, Caratlane, Radiant Bay, Kuber Box and a few more have proved to the biggest players in the game.

BWDisrupt brings to you the story of Bluestone, read to know more about the venture & the brand's focus:

Established in 2011, BlueStone.com aims at revolutionizing precious jewellery and lifestyle segment in India with a firm focus on craftsmanship, quality and user experience. Gaurav Singh Kushwaha co-founded BlueStone with an initial investment of $5 million after his first entrepreneurial venture Chakpak an online entertainment portal. The conceptualization of BlueStone was the result of his experiences while shopping for jewellery around his wedding.

During the first two years of operations, the primary focus was to strengthen the design, manufactuing, logistics and brand building. The team also leveraged technology to streamline the shopping experience which helped scale the brand rapidly. During the early days, BlueStone decided to move away for an inventory heavy model followed by offline jewelers and work on a zero inventory asset light model – where all the products are designed and manufactured in-house.

Bluestone's Key Features
 The platform currently features over 5,000 unique designs from a wide collection of themes to suit every occasion and ships to over 20,000 pin codes across the country.
 The designs are crafted to perfection by BlueStone’s master craftsmen and the company offers a 30 Day Money Back guarantee and Lifetime Exchanges.
 Shoppers also experience the ease of luxury shopping from the comfort of their home with a unique Home Try-on facility available in 18 cities across the country.
 Jewellery from BlueStone carries the trusted BIS Hallmark (Bureau of Indian Standards) assuring the customer of the gold purity in the product.
 The diamond jewellery is certified by prestigious laboratories such as IGI (International Gemological Institute), SGL (Solitaire Gemological Laboratories Ltd) and HKD (HKD Diamond Laboratories Canada).
 BlueStone's solitaires also carry a certificate of authenticity from world renowned laboratories such as the GIA (Gemological Institute of America).

BlueStone.com has initiated an aggressive approach towards marketing with a focus on TV and digital. The company recently launched two TVCs under the ‘Choose your twinkle’ ad campaign, which is being aired across leading national and regional channels. The company has earmarked over 150 crores for marketing, over the next 3 years. In order to establish multiple touch points with customers as part of the omni-channel approach, the company constantly explores innovative methods of reaching its target audience. One such activity was the launch of Gold ATMs in the cities of Bangalore and Delhi during the last Dhanteras. The concept received widespread visibility among social and media platforms. Digital and social media are an important channel for BlueStone and the company continues to invest in these platforms to reach the target audience.

BlueStone.com’s target audience is between 25 – 40 year old upwardly mobile women. These women are looking for a wide variety of stylish and contemporary designs that are unique and can be customized to their need. Jewellery being a high-ticket purchase, they now have the ability to browse through thousands of designs at their time and place of convenience without the need to go to a store or be pressurized to make a purchase.

Some Other Interesting Facts:-
 The average Ticket size of a purchase is Rs 25,000 – Rs 28,000
 The biggest single order for necklace was worth Rs 8 lakhs
 The biggest single solitaire ring ordered was worth Rs 18 lakhs
 BlueStone.com receives an average of 7000 orders per month
 Mobile traffic is close to 70% with about 45% revenues generated from the platform
 The company delivers to four international destinations – US, UK, Canada and Australia
 Top 6 cities contributes to about 60% of the business – Delhi, NCR, Bangalore, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chennai
 International business contributes 5% to the overall revenue
 BlueStone closed FY 15-16 at an annualized run rate of Rs 225 crores and is aiming to become EBIDTA positive in the next 2-years
Funding
 1st Round USD 5 million from Accel Partners, Saama Capital and Meena Ganesh, CEO of Portea.
 2nd Round - USD 10 million - Mr. Ratan Tata, Kalaari Capital, Accel Partners and Saama Capital 2014.
 3rd Round – USD 15 million – IvyCap Ventures and Dragoneer along with the participation from Accel, Kalaari and Saama Capital.
 4th Round – USD 30 million - led by Iron Pillar & IIFL and Accel along with Kalaari Capital, RB Investments and IvyCap Ventures.

The Indian Jewellery market is currently valued at close to $60 billion and is expected to become $100 - $110 billion in next four to five years. Online contribution for fine jewellery is expected to reach 1 - 2% by then. This is the beginning of an important phase in the evolution of the jewellery segment as a whole, considering the size of the market which is still traditional and fragmented.

Young, independent new age shoppers are starting to look at online platforms as a strong alternative to access the latest and most contemporary designs in fine jewellery while enjoying the convenience and options of choice the platform offers.