Through a Virtual-Inventory Model, We are Able to Pass on Savings of up to 40% to Consumers - Nabarun Chakraborty, Co- Founder and CEO, Ornativa
By bringing global designs to the Indian market where young, trendy and modern women look for jewelry which matches their style and dresses, Ornativa brings to its customers’ designs that are inspired by international trends. With their lean supply-chain and manufacturing process, they have been able to sell their jewelry at a mid-level price point and yet make good margins on each sale. BW Disrupt got into an exclusive conversation with Nabarun Chakraborty, Co- Founder and CEO, Ornativa to explore more about their startup:
Q- Tell us about your entrepreneurial journey?
A- Being Born and brought up in a conservative Bengali family, quitting a well-settled job and starting our own venture was a huge challenge for both of us. There was no one, who has supported us in any way for the business not even our near and dear ones, but bootstrapping the company was an even bigger challenge by which, we got bankrupt twice and seen the hardest times in our life. However, these couldn’t stop us from fulfilling our dreams. Moreover, due to the lack of proper ecosystem and political paralysis, the majority of the investors shy away from investing in Kolkata based startups. For these reasons we grabbed the opportunity to shift our business completely to Hyderabad when we got selected in Spark10 Accelerator.
Q- What were the challenges you faced when you started and how is the market different now?
A- In the beginning our main challenge was to understand our target customers and find the right channel to reach for them. Also, at present the online jewelry industry has grown a lot compared to two years back, when we started. In India the fashion jewelry industry is huge. About $ 2.5B worth of jewelry was bought last year and this is expected to increase by 23.6% this year. This is a highly untapped market and the opportunities to grow and scale in this space are enormous. Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) reports suggest that jewelry is amongst the top 10 categories in e-Commerce that received the highest number of clicks.
Q- Jewelry shopping is an experience where customers prefer to “touch and feel” before buying. Why did you choose e-commerce and what are the challenges and opportunities in this space?
A- It is true that customers prefer to “touch and feel” jewelry before buying. But, we provide ‘30 day returns’ if they don’t like our product quality. Also, we give 1 year warranty on the quality of all our jewelry Most importantly, we are a partner of Swarovski and we only use authentic Swarovski crystals and stones.
On the other hand, we can reach to a bigger customer segment through e-commerce. We can spread our creativity to all over the world by creating the online brand in a much lower cost.
Q- How do you manage your inventory?
A- We work on lean principles, minimizing our inventory and have strong partnerships with manufacturers and logistics companies to ensure higher quality and shorter delivery cycles. This allows us to achieve gross margins of 80% per order. Through a virtual-inventory model and by avoiding retail rental costs, we are able to pass on savings of up to 40% to consumers, compared to retail prices.
Q- Who are your target customers?
A- The majority of customer segment is youth between 16-35 years, who are mostly fresh out of college and young working professionals.
Q- How are you making use of technology?
A- We are using 3D printing technology for creating all our jewelry. It reduces our manufacturing time and costs at the same time. Also, we are working on creating the customisation technology where our customers can create their own designs of jewelry with ease.
Q- What are your marketing channels?
A- We are focusing on the digital marketing (Social Media, Google Adwords, Content Marketing, SEO, etc.) channels as we are targeting the young women in India.
Q- What are your USP’s?
A- We launch minimum 3 new collections every month, made by our in-house designers and prioritize the quality of our products than anything. All our jewelry is made with Swarovski crystals and 18Kt gold plating along with 92.5 silver. We also provide 1 year of warranty on all our jewelry.
Q- As per you, what are the essentials of building an online brand, especially jewelry?
A- According to me, the essential element to create an online brand is the products, trust and visibility. To create a jewelry brand, we are focusing on our designs, product quality and price. We have our in-house jewelry designers and are using latest technology for manufacturing for which, we are cutting the time and cost of manufacturing.
