Mumbai-based company BlueStone, which was established in 2011, has been ruling the fine jewellery space in India. Recently, the company announced the launch of their manufacturing unit in Jaipur with an investment of $3 million.
Speaking about the company’s journey through the pandemic, Gaurav Singh Kushwaha, Founder and CEO, BlueStone, says that even before the pandemic, this category was picking up well but during the pandemic the omnichannel company’s online side of business grew by 3x. However, now with normalcy restoring in a post-pandemic world, people are walking back to stores but there has been an overall behavioral change in consumers.
Gaurav mentions that the company already has launched 40 stores and another 30 are in the pipeline. Additionally, in order to cater to the growing demand, they have also started stepping up their manufacturing capabilities, the most recent one being Jaipur. “In FY23, we are looking to open 100 more stores,” he says. The company has already identified the locations and are presently on a property hunt.
He adds that there are a lot of people who are induced to online browsing during the pandemic but in a category like jewellery, people prefer to make purchases offline as well. Therefore, omnichannel is a perfect medium for sales in a category like this.
In terms of category expansions, Gaurav shares that they are going to be expanding in categories in which they are under-represented such as low-value bangles and necklaces. “You will see bangles in the range of Rs 40,000-Rs 50,000 with great designs,” he says.
Gaurav mentions that the company turned profitable four quarters back and they are generating enough cash flow to fund their expansions. He explains that all their stores are launched in collaboration with franchises and hence, a franchise-driven approach is what they have taken for their stores as the operation is more efficient that way. However, the company is in talks with investors to raise funds going forward.
Commenting on revenue metrics, he says that the company is witnessing 100 percent growth this year and they plan on maintaining that in the next year as well. “In five years or so, we are looking to target around Rs 10,000 crore in revenues,” mentions Gaurav.
Edited by Anju Narayanan