Making Jewels fit for a Queen
Making Jewels fit for a Queen

Mr. Vijay Jain. CEO ORRA, whose company recently launched ORRA’s third flagship store, a three level extravaganza in New Delhi, talks to Varun Jain about the future expansion plans of ORRA and shares his views on organised jewellery retail in the country.

 

Varun Jain (VJ): What is the current market share of ORRA?

Vijay Jain (VJ): We have a negligible market share. The Indian jewellery industry is highly fragmented. This is the area which offers large opportunities in retailing of diamonds in the organised retail. The opportunities here are very very high. No player today has more than 5% market share. But having said that, large corporate houses are increasing the focus on this space because this is something which from a long term perspective provides great returns.

 

VJ: What is your turnover?

VJ (ORRA): We would not be sharing that, but Rosy blue is a $1.8 billion company.

 

VJ: How many ORRA stores do we have in total? What is the average retail space of the same?

VJ (ORRA): We have 30 ORRA stores including the three flagship stores in Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore. The average retail space would be somewhere around more than 1,000 sq ft.

 

VJ: What would be the expansion plans for ORRA?

VJ (ORRA): Over the next three years, we would be looking to open 20-25 stores across India. These will be the boutique stores as we are very clear that we are not going to play in shop in shop formats. There is a need for huge level of comfort and experience when the consumer comes in this kind of a store. The products that we are offering remains with you as a memory and hence we don’t want our customers to shop in hustle and bustle.

 

ORRA Diamonds is planning to raise Rs 75 crore through the private equity (PE) route to support its retail expansion plans over the next three years.

 

VJ: What is your shareholding pattern in India?

VJ (ORRA): Its 85%-15% shareholding pattern. 85 per cent is with Rosyblue and and I have 15 per cent stakes in the company.

 

VJ: Lately you have been focusing a lot more on gold. What has been the reason?

VJ (ORRA): We are expanding into different markets. I think gold allows you to enter diverse markets which otherwise you can’t think of entering. If you see gold accounts for 85 per cent of the Indian jewellery consumption. So it helps to connect with the consumers in small cities, say Nagpur. Again in India, there is a small percent of people who are pure diamond buyers and then a large section who buys a mix of diamond and gold. So our aim is to make all those consumers visit our stores and stick to us.

 

VJ: Which are the smaller markets which you are looking to open a store?

VJ (ORRA): This year we should open a store in Rajkot, Nagpur and Baroda. These are the three markets we are looking forward to.

 

VJ: How much time it takes for an ORRA store to breakeven?

VJ (ORRA): For any store that we set up of ORRA, we look at a breakeven within 12 months of its operation.

 

VJ: How is selling jewellery on EMI faring in the market?

VJ (ORRA): It has been faring very well. When we talk about EMI’s, we think of small installments of money, but what is interesting over here is that people are coming to us and paying us an installments from Rs 1000 to Rs 25000 per month over a period of 11 months. The first installment is from the ORRA’s side. We have been getting consumers from all walks of life. Our range starts at Rs 10,000 and goes upto Rs 25 lac.

 

VJ: How has been the performance of ORRA in FY10 and what are the plans for FY11?

VJ (ORRA): We had a growth of around 25% at same store level. We always measure our growth at same store level.

 

VJ: Is ORRA into franchising?

VJ (ORRA): We are not yet in franchising. Our thought process is that the consumer experience is very important from our perspective. So we think that if we can enhance the consumer experience, build a brand around its core value and then go in for franchising model, it will help us. So definitely, it’s on the cards but not for now.

 

VJ: Which jewellry component sells more? Gold, Platinum or Diamond.

VJ (ORRA): Gold sells more any day but the fastest growing segment is diamond. Even platinum has seen a huge growth.

 

VJ: What will be the marketing strategy to create awareness for the brand?

VJ (ORRA): We are looking for a 360 degree approach. So our campaigns will be a mix of ATL and BTL activities.

 

VJ: Any particular changes you see in the consumer buying pattern over a period of time?

VJ (ORRA): What we are seeing is that there are two sets of consumers. One who buys the diamond for the first time and is all excited. The other consumer already owns a piece and wants to buy even more. The more she buys the more she wants to buy. It’s not just about owning a single piece. It is intoxicating in this way.

Stay on top – Get the daily news from Indian Retailer in your inbox
Also Worth Reading