Why Jewelry Brand Rubans Accessories is Betting Big on D2C

The brainchild of Chinu Kala, Rubans Accessories is one of the fastest-growing jewelry brands in India. The brand is known for its jewelry which is an enchanting amalgamation of great craftsmanship and modernity.

The founder states that the idea of Rubans was incepted when she was a part of Gladrags Mrs India in 2007, wherein she was introduced to the world of fashion and jewelry. It was then she observed how the right accessory completes a look and later formulated her observation into her brand, Rubans.

With over 2,000 designs curated by artisans all across the country, Rubans was incepted in 2018, and by the end of 2019, it became a 100 percent online brand.

Humble Beginnings

The brand started selling its products from a 6x6 square feet kiosk in a mall. Starting out offline with stores in malls of Bengaluru, Kochi, and Hyderabad, in 2018, the brand started pivoting to online and by 2019 it was a 100 percent online brand.

Rubans claims to have witnessed massive growth through its online presence, becoming a top-selling fashion jewelry brand on India’s biggest fashion portal, today.    

“The journey has been supremely satisfying and exciting but not without ups and downs,” said Chinu Kala, Founder, Rubans.

Options Galore

With over 3,500 SKUs in ethnic and western jewelry, the brand also offers party clutches, bags, and wallets. Moreover, Rubans recently launched a new range of silver products and aims to build these categories expecting them to be substantial contributors to its top line in the next 3 months.

For the ongoing festive season, the brand plans to launch new designs specifically for the season, while offering a loyalty program on its D2C platform.

Betting Big on D2C

Fashion jewelry is a fast-paced business and like any other industry, one needs to be on their toes and swift to survive.

“Our strategy is to spoil the customers with choices when they visit our website. We have a team of designers and researchers who work on the latest trends not just from India but across the world. With globalization changing the world, information flow is faster and similarly fashion trends also flow really fast,” asserted Chinu Kala.

Therefore, as a brand Rubans aims to never lose the freshness quotient, launching 100-150 designs each month.

Apart from this, with the idea of making its D2C platform a substantial contributor, the brand has been focussing on D2C receiving great responses from its customer base.

“We have launched certain collections that are specifically curated for our website. Today, through our D2C channel we connect with our customers easily and aim to have a Rubans community,” said Kala.

Currently available via e-commerce platforms and its D2C channel, the majority of the brand’s communication takes place online. Further, the brand is building a presence on social media through advertisements and influencer marketing. With the brand scaling up online, it aims to go omnichannel in the next fiscal.

Delivering at a Lightening Speed

Chinu Kala believes fashion jewelry is mostly about designs, quality, and fast fashion.

“The innovation for us has been on the delivery front as on our D2C platform we are competing with e-commerce platforms thus we have developed processes through which we make sure that our speed of delivery is either equal to them or even better,” commented Kala.

For customers in Bengaluru, Rubans has a 4-hour turnaround time (TAT) to deliver the products.

Growth and Future

Bootstrapped from day 1, Rubans has grown from a revenue of Rs 56 lakhs in 2014 to Rs 35 crore in 2022. The brand has thus witnessed rapid growth in the last 6 to 7 years, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 100 percent. The brand has a lifetime gross merchandise value (GMV) of Rs 190 crore.

Selling in countries with Indian diaspora through its D2C platform, the brand is looking for strategic partnerships to enter the International market while working towards expanding its retail footprint across India.

In the next 5 years, Rubans intends to hold a double-digit market share in the online jewelry market which is expected to grow up to Rs 5,000 crore.