Clicks to Bricks: How Candere is Planning to Attract Consumers via its EBOs

Candere by Kalyan Jewellers primarily started as an online jewel-tech brand, having its presence on online platforms and the website alone. As a brand, it has always believed in adapting to the industry's changes, especially post the intense digital wave and the need to be omnipresent across channels. Being one of the leading players in the sector with a vast customer base (online), Candere is presently focusing on cross-channel sales by offering purchase options through both online and offline stores as per a customer’s choice/ preference.

Candere employs an omnichannel strategy to reach the maximum number of buyers and consumers, focusing on retention and enabling customer engagement with the Candere community.

“Over the last two fiscal years, we have experienced rapid growth. We have grown our revenue exponentially by 100 percent CAGR. Our current omnichannel strategy will help us develop aggressively as we move forward, allowing us to preserve the brand's recognition and relevance among customers while expanding our footprint in the online and offline ecosystems,” said Rupesh Jain, Founder, and CEO, Candere by Kalyan Jewellers.

Digital-First Brand

As the world moves toward a digital era and customers acquire new habits, physical presence becomes more crucial in providing a superior and seamless customer experience. Hence, Candere is reorienting its D2C strategy to take advantage of this transformation by merging its offline and online presence by giving clients an omnichannel experience.

Candere's D2C strategy emphasizes providing tailored curation with cutting-edge technology to amplify customer experience. As a result, it is constantly experimenting with and identifying emerging areas of consumer analytics to establish a solid system that will satisfy its new-age clients that are product-savvy and quality-conscious.

Apart from its website, Candere is present at various other marketplaces like Amazon, Flipkart, Ajio, Nykaa, etc.

“E-commerce contributes 99 percent of our total revenue,” stated Jain.

From Clicks to Bricks

Recently, Candere launched its first Experience Center in Mumbai to fulfill its consumers' requests for a hands-on experience, enabling it to serve a new market of conventional brick-and-mortar store buyers interested in its distinctive jewelry collections. This unique center is designed to let customers experience the brand's broad range of products and services. Additionally, it will seamlessly function with its digital platform, giving clients a complete omnichannel experience.

Now that the brand opened its first Experience Centre, it has plans to launch its flagship high-street store in mid-December.

“We are expecting a good amount of traction from the retail stores. We are keeping the expansion strategy diversified (including various offline retail operation models) to cater to maximum and diverse categories of customers with vivid purchasing habits, leveraging the customer experience,” he asserted.

Focus on Tier II & III Cities

The brand’s share/ percentage of revenue from Tier II and III cities has increased post-COVID.

Tier II cities contribute about 20-25 percent of its revenue, while 10-15 percent of its revenue comes from Tier III cities.

“We have increased our spending in these markets to increase our penetration, largely making the brand and its offerings accessible to the maximum number of customers,” explained Jain.

Product Offerings

Candere offers over 8,000 SKUs at present.

The brand has a lightweight jewelry segment in fine diamonds, which could be worn on any occasion of choice because of its resemblance with certain traditional elements and the refinement of contemporary jewelry.

Additionally, it offers season-specific collections like Valentine’s Day Collection, Wedding Collection, Anniversary Collection, Men’s Collection, and Children’s Collection, as well as its bestsellers such as Leher, Chafa, etc.

“As a jewel-tech brand, we use the power of data to predict trends and create new categories for the evolving customer demands/ choices of jewelry. We aim to introduce new product lines or categories in the upcoming year for our increasing customers,” he noted.

Technology at its Core

Candere is constantly looking for innovations that will enable it to enhance its relationship with consumers. For instance, it gives its customers access to tools like 'virtual try-on' for a personalized experience and 'voice search' on its website, enabling consumers to shop as they would in a physical store while remaining in the comfort of their homes.

The brand has also implemented chatbots on its website, leveraging the power of social media platforms like Instagram and Facebook to effectively enable conversation-based consumer expectations.

Additionally, it collaborated with Adobe Analytics, upgraded M1 to M2, and migrated its chatbot to the cloud for seamless customer experiences.

“The customization option enables our buyers to choose their unique piece of jewelry that resonates with them and says a lot about their personality, including the ability to select from three metal colors, several gold qualities, and five distinct diamond qualities,” Jain said.

READ MORE: Domestic Jewelry Retail Grows Almost 12 pc YoY in Q2 FY2023

A Way Ahead

As a result of its technology and data-driven strategy, Candere was able to boost its sales for the fiscal year 2022 to Rs 1,412 million, while online traffic rose to 25 million in 2022. Its YTD (year to date) until October 2022 has crossed Rs 100 crore in revenue.

“We expect to contribute largely to the industry in the coming years, owing to our aggressive retail expansion strategies. The omnichannel presence will ensure that we grow 360 degrees involving customers from all corners and generating maximum growth in the coming years,” Jain stated.

Candere aims to be the most sought-after jewel-tech brand that caters to all types of jewelry for every occasion. Going omnichannel is helping it accomplish this by increasing the visibility of Candere as a leading jewel-tech brand and its product range and making it easier for people to access the brand across domains.

“We are also preparing for global expansion by developing our international website,” he concluded.