The Exchanges

Q So, what is the ratio of online and offline in this time?

A Now, the majority of business is online. Now, our 70% business is online. Offline, we started about five months ago. And, uh, we started from Bangalore. We set up four stores in Bangalore. Uh, when we were starting, at that point, our thesis was clear that we wouldn't go into more cities. We would live in limited cities, but we would go deep. Yeah. Because what we realized is, we wanted to solve for our marketing costs. And when you go to marketing performance and branding, that's on your city level. You took a place in airports, or you would go to cinemas. It's all on city level. It's all on your specific level. So, that's why our marketing efficiency, marketing ROI, will focus on that city. So, that's why we took two cities in Bangalore and Delhi. And there, we put five stores in the first go. And we went very deep there. And then, we did a lot of marketing, BTL activation, branding activities to create awareness. Uh, in the cities.

AI assessment note: “Now, our 70% business is online. Offline, we started about five months ago.”

Q Uh, And how did the, uh, when you were serving the market, right, to start a civil jewelry business, how did you stumble upon this? Because it's a completely unheard of, like I can understand somebody, uh, started in a gold jewelry business because it's a very large market, but this looks like from periphery back when you started a very small market.

A So, so you're right. If you look at it from outside in, this is what you get. So I'll tell you a bit more about how I stepped into this. So when I was in my college in IIT Kanpur, that was, you know, I was very clear that and then I actually started two businesses of my own. Uh, one was in the social media space. One was in the, uh, general media space. None of them worked. Uh, so back there, then I realized that maybe, uh, you know, the research that I'm doing on something that I want to start is not sufficient. I'm directly jumping into a problem and thinking of it as a problem, which is not really a problem, right? Uh, so maybe I need to do a bit of research and then go deep into it. So then post that I joined Boston consulting group because I heard consultants work that before joining BCG, I heard consultants work directly with the CEO. They get a view of the problem in much more detail, et cetera. And then when I was working there, I was working largely in the consumer space. There in one of the assignments, actually, uh, you know, we were speaking to all the possible businesses which exist in India, like all the possible spaces, be it leather space, be it hair care, makeup, skin care, jewelry, everyone, and trying to understand the problems that the people were facing. Uh, and what I realized is, this was about eight years, seven years before, in skin care, makeup, Haircu…

AI assessment note: “when I was working there... in jewelry, there were very few brands”

Q And, and how did you make Jeeva into, uh, you know, such a recognizable brand? What went behind in building the distribution machine at Jeeva?

A So I think this is a journey and, you know, we are still very, very early in the journey. It's an ongoing journey. Uh, you know, I think one big lever for this journey is obviously the right people, uh, because very, very, it's very tough to do everything alone. Um, I've been fortunate that we got the right people who were carrying the same vision or who at least had the purpose of creating something big. Uh, but one big thing that we realized in jewelry, which is very important is trust and quality, right? So you need, because jewelry is a very small element in the women's entire attire, right? If you wear a shirt, that is a very large element, like you would see it prominently, but jewelry is a very small element, but it's a very emotional element. Like people use jewelry to gift during proposal or during wedding. Or, you know, someone would wear jewelry for gifts, et cetera, would give it for gifts. So it is very special to people. And when something is very, very special to people, then you cannot really mess up with the quality. You really cannot mess up with the brand promise. You have to serve it in a very special way. And that has been our thesis all throughout. Like when we started Jeeva, we said, no, all our jewelry will be 92.5% pure. Uh, you know, we'll be, we'll have an authenticity certificate with every jewelry. Uh, then we will give 30 day no question asked retu…

AI assessment note: “when we started Jeeva, we said, no, all our jewelry will be 92.5% pure.”

Q And, and, and jitni bhi bantti fher jhaan pe manufacturing ke to je machine made hati jewellery ya hand made hati hai?

A So, abhi hum, loogo ka, so, is mein, joo poora process hai, aad se ds saal peele eek jewellery ko banne mei from the dye to the final piece ko charon pundra veez din lagte te te te. Eek dye banne mei chhe saat din lag jate te te. Ye, ab, joo poora process hai, čaar din mein hoh jata hai, joelri banne ka process, because aapka, joo sab se bada eek leveret dye, It's completely automated. Then, after casting, you do an automated way. Then, the finishing, there's only stone placement, which you do manually, but after that, the rest of the finishings, all that is automated. So, the process of the process of the 15, 20 days, for three, four days. Which is why you see a lot of startups in gold will make-to-order, right? All this has been possible because of the mechanization.

AI assessment note: “there's only stone placement, which you do manually, but after that, the rest... is automated”