Online jewellery platform, Voylla, which launched men’s jewellery brand DARE by Voylla in February, plans to expand the retail presence of the brand by opening separate stores.
In an exclusive conversation with Indiaretailing’s Charu Lamba, Founder & CEO, Voylla.com, Vishwas Shringi said, “DARE by Voylla – the brand for men’s jewellery – was also started online but we have recently opened its first store in LuLu Mall in Kochi. We will be soon opening its second store at DLF Mall Of India. We are looking at the similar expansion that we did for women’s category but at a separate store.”
He further added, “We have recently forayed into doing franchise business and out of total 240 stores, we have 10 franchise stores. So, as a part of expansion we will be looking more at franchise stores.”
Going Omnichannel
Voylla, which started as an online retailer in 2012, opened its first brick-and-mortar outlet in 2015. And at present, the brand has a database of more than 35,000 SKUs, however, Voylla has 8,000 active designs at any given point and at any location or any store, the customer can find around 2,000 designs.
According to Shringi, “When we started online, the idea was to reach customers just from one warehouse. However, as we expanded, we realised that we were growing pretty fast yet we were not able to reach every women or fashionista out there. Hence it became important for us to reach the offline channel and be there where it is easy for any women to access it. We opened our first store in December 2015 and today we are present at 240 touch-points across India.”
However, he admitted that online has an advantage as there the retailer can display large merchandise whereas offline they are bound by the store size.
Elaborating on the store size, Shringi said that average size of the Voylla stores is around 300-350 sq.ft and most of the Voylla stores become profitable in span of 5-6 months.
Understanding Online and Offline Customers
Shringi believes that transition of customers from offline to online will happen over a period of time but at present there is a huge differnence in online and offline customers.
“The kind of customers who shop online are more price driven or more evolved. There is a clear distinction there. A more evolved customer will shop product like Studio Voylla which are niche and very unique. The customer knows what to shop online, so for them the look of it makes sense. The other set of customer does not understand that and primarily will buy for price. There is a huge customer base in between that has to explore the product online but definitely need touch and feel. They are the customers who are going offline and actually large customer base is that customer base. Hence it makes sense to be in the offline,” revealed Shringi.
The average ticket size offline is Rs 1,500 but online it is Rs 800. But, at present both online and offline contributes 50-50 to the overall revenue of the brand.
Voylla – Look The Part
The brand that has been growing 300 per cent year-on-year has introduces new brand ethos – Look The Part. The new brand ethos was born after extensive consumer surveys and research into buying habits, socio-economic contexts and fashion awareness across demographies and geographies.
The response was unanimous, unambiguous: Voylla is much more than an accessory brand. Voylla helps every woman to Look the Part. The new brand ethos is about empowering every woman who wishes to make a statement with her sartorial choices, in whatever role she chooses to play, any day, every day. Regardless of her professional choices, her personal obligations, the Voylla woman stands out in the crowd. And Look The Part, is her most potent tool to create that signature look.
With this unique Brand Ethos in place, the brand has been prepping a new campaign – for both men (Own the Part) and women, new creatives and realigning their product lines with a new marketing strategy in place as well.
CMO & CTO, Voylla.com, Jagrati Shringi said, “Our new brand ethos and launch of this unique collection has a single mission – enabling the woman to be the director of her script. It is important for her to find the perfect piece of earrings, the bracelet, the pendant or the anklet, to tell her story, in her own words. And no one understands this desire better than Voylla, that has been in the business of making jewellery for every woman, to be with her at every step in life. Jewellery that is not just an add on, but something that helps her #lookthepart .”
Latest Collection – The Taj
Voylla has recently launched its most romantic collection inspired by the Taj Mahal.
The Taj collection took 207 days, a team of 45 designers and artisans to attain perfection. It features exquisite, hand-enamelled earrings, chokers, layered necklaces, rings, chandelier earrings and other sumptuous statement pieces, as an ode to the woman who is the ‘lover’s muse, his last romance’.
According to Vishwas Shringi, “We are very excited to launch our most romantic collection, inspired by the Taj Mahal. This has been one of the most challenging yet fulfilling projects at Voylla, and is very close to our hearts. We are sure the collection’s outstanding craftsmanship and lyrical aesthetic will win your heart.”
He further added, “Voylla has also been taking inspiration from traditional Indian art forms and has created the popular Kalamkari, Firdaus, Ajrakh and other collections in the recent past. We are also working towards providing the right kind of employment and training to indigenous artisans and craftsmen and are proud to have 200 such talented artisans associated with us.”
Tracing the Voylla Journey
In the extremely promising online fashion jewellery sector, Voylla aims to be an aspirational and a durable brand, which will stand for value, quality and irresistible choices. Voylla was launched in May 2012 by husband -wife duo Vishwas Shringi and Jagrati Shringi. What began in 2012-13 as an e-commerce experiment and start up from Bengaluru, has grown into one of the most popular Omnichannel fashion jewellery brands in the country. With a robust online presence, and equally strong offline footprint, Voylla is literally just a click and a step away from its patrons.
Voylla retails through its website Voylla.com, app and via marketplaces like Flipkart, Amazon and Myntra and offline through its stores. The start-up had opened its first flagship store in Delhi in December 2015 and at present boasts of 240 physical stores all over the country with over 700 + employees. Voylla is in talks with MBOs like Pantaloons, Reliance, and aims to launch 250 more stores by end of 2017. In October 2015, Voylla had raised US $15 million from the private equity firm Peepul Capital and before that had raised two rounds of funds in 2012 and 2013 by Snow Leopard Technology Ventures.
The brand had also signed a one year contract with Actor Kangana Ranaut for endorsing the brand which ended in 2016 and now has appointed Rannvijay Singh, leading youth icon of the country as the first-ever brand ambassador for their men’s jewellery collection range – Dare by Voylla.
In the last five years, the company has made sustainable efforts to understand its customer, and accordingly set up a robust technology to drive their Jewelry selection experience, and produce exclusive and unique lines. The Company has a repertoire of over 35,000 designs on the website and 240+ stores across India, which gets refreshed with almost 1,000 designs every week.
Voylla, which started as an online retailer in 2012, opened its first brick-and-mortar outlet in 2015
Must Read
