Elvy: Selling by all means!

Starting as a catalogue for high-end home décor products in the Indian market just a year back, Elvy now has five retail outlets across Delhi/NCR region and 10 more are planned to be opened by 2008. Ranjan Kaplish caught up with Lovy Khosala, managing director, Elvy, to understand how each of his home décor selling formats complement each other.

From office apparatus to garden decor, and from kitchen to bar accessories, to bed and bath gear as also furniture and furnishings, Elvy probably is one of the few brands that clubs every segment of home and beyond to add fashion and elegance to it.

An offshoot of export major Stalwart Creations, Elvy introduced a mail-order catalogue for the domestic market last year and is now set to make a mark in home fashion retailing with its elaborate store expansion plans. The company expects to open 10 outlets in North India by the end of 2008, taking its store tally to 15.

The new openings are planned for cities like Chandigarh, Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Jaipur and Kanpur. Five of the ten outlets will be through franchisees, while the rest will be owned by the company. Presently, Elvy retails through five stores in Delhi and NCR. The company did not reveal its investments plans, but admitted that all capital is through self-funding and no private equity or external capital is involved in the venture.

“Through our nationwide research and survey, we had seen that a particular segment of society—amid our fast-paced routines—is not able to move out and buy things quite often, and when it does, it cannot go through all the product variants in a hurry. We planned to cash in on this strata and the idea of introducing a catalogue took root. One can choose a product through a catalogue and make an order; for others who prefer real-time shopping, we opened our stores,” Lovy Khosla, managing director, Elvy, told Indiaretailing.

Talking about the initial hurdles the company had to face, Khosla said, “We had researched the market and then applied right strategies – from knowing and approaching our potential consumer to choosing a right retail destination, everything was well planned; so, no major difficulties were seen. Secondly, as this is a niche segment, till date we see no competition. Moreover, we keep updating and innovating to have an edge and stay ahead.”

The Elvy catalogue business, unlike other mail-order catalogues, has a distinctive way of selling. All products are delivered on orders and payments for the same are made on delivery. The customer has a choice of accepting or rejecting after getting the feel of the product; nothing is charged in case the product is rejected. This unique service has created a niche for the Elvy catalogue. Elvy is a first-of-its-kind company in introducing an integrated approach providing high-end products to the customer through the mediums of shopping catalogue, touch-and-feel shops, and internet mall or web-shop.