Biraj Shah of Sshri Anugrah Jewels : Every adversity is an Opportunity.

her CUSTOMER FIRST approach she has built a retail business from scratch.

Biraj Shah narrated her story of how a chance meeting at a religious gathering with a lab grown diamond jewellery manufacturer changed her life. Anil Prabhakar

Background :

Two years ago, Biraj had no background whatsoever in Jewellery. She was a property consultant for 13 years before the pandemic affected her business. It did not make sense for her to be in the same profession as her husband Ravi as the business had shrunk. Biraj therefore contemplated diversifying into a new business.

Women have a natural affinity towards jewellery. It occurred to her that there could be an opportunity in the jewellery industry that led her on a path to discovery. For a religious Vaishnav, regular visits to the temple are a given. On one such visit, Biraj met Rajnikant, a LGD jewellery manufacturer from Surat.

An important discovery :

It was for the first time that she heard about LGDs. The new category aroused her interest. Rajnikant invited her to Surat and educated her on the various aspects of the LGD business. He suggested Biraj to do a market survey before taking a business decision.

“It is not possible for anyone to make out the difference between a mined and created diamond”, Rajnikant told her.

He advised Biraj to test this hypothesis by surveying the market.

Biraj was quick to gauge the business potential that the LGD offered. Women irrespective of their financial status are familiar with gold. They inherit gold and buy gold jewellery for cultural, religious and investment reasons. Women however, have a fascination for diamonds for the simple reason that it is beyond the reach for most middle class women.

During her survey, Biraj posed as a customer. She showed her LGD studded ring to three jewelers, in Borivali, Santacruz and Dadar. She was surprised with the fact none of them could idenitify that the diamonds in the ring were lab created. She was even offered an exchange and buyback offer. One of the jewelers valued the ring at a price higher than what she had paid for.

Distribution :

“All women dream and aspire to own a diamond but a few of them can afford them. LGDs can fulfill the dream of all these women” Said Biraj.

Subsequently, she decided to try her hand and become a distributor with a modest investment of Rs. 5 lakhs.

Biraj spent six months visiting jewelers from Churchgate to Borivali, knocking at their door. Most of the jewelers were ignorant of the category. A few of them who knew about LGDs indulged in undisclosed mixing.

She was appalled by the manner in which most jewelers treat sales persons.

“I was humiliated, insulted and not allowed to meet the owners. In a few instances, I was even asked to get out and stay out of the store”. She said

During her six month stint Biraj observed that most jewelers were sitting on the fence, waiting for others to start retailing with full disclosure. Others resorted to profiteering by undisclosed mixing, thereby taking the customers for a ride.

During her 13 years of journey, she had meticulously built a data base of all the people she had contacted. The first step was to reach out to them. Most of them hadn’t heard about LGDs. While a few showed curiosity, most

Out of all the customers who showed an inclination towards LGDs, only a few showed a willingness to commute to her office. Undeterred, she made door to door visits even for small enquiries such as a nose pin.

Gradually her hard work paid off and she opened a small store in Kandiwali. In the initial stages, she would leave the piece of jewellery with the consumer for 30 days for trials. When the trial resulted in a sale, she would offer an exchange and buyback facility.

When I asked her about the consumer response and the reservation that they had about LGD, Biraj replied, “In the beginning of my retail journey, I deliberately chose to approach potential customers who were known to me. They had faith in me and so did I. All they wanted was the confidence and backup. I offered them buyback, 30 days trial and later credit facility. I organized educational sessions to bring about the awareness of the lab grown diamonds in good hotels. The consumers appreciated the fact, that a diamond is a diamond, whether mined or grown in a lab”. Consumers started buying small ticket items and came back for repeat purchase of higher value. The word of mouth spread gradually. I now started getting requests for store visits. My store is too small and can accommodate only three people. I therefore made it as a by appointment only store. The customers feel special when they come to Sshri Anugrah jewels and I in turn devote my undivided attention to them”

Wow moments :

“My investment in inventory gradually increased from Rs. 5 lakhs to Rs. 60 lakhs. My average selling price too went up from Rs. 15000 to Rs. 30,000. One of my customers even bought a necklace priced at Rs. 7 lakhs”. Said Biraj with a glint in her eye.

“In two years I have built up a base of 700 happy customers. Most of my customers are middle class men and women from the western suburbs”.

One of the wow moments for us was the visit of Kiku Sharda who is known for his appearances in the Kapil Sharma show. He spent 3 hours in our store understanding LGDs and appreciating our designs.

The road ahead : Going forward, I would like to create and online store to attract new consumers. We would also like to open a bigger store.

Middle class consumers, who are buying a diamond for the first time, have no reservations of talking about their LGDs within their circle of friends. They want others also to possess diamonds.

Wealthy consumers, who already have mined diamonds, buy bigger lab created diamonds as they are less expensive. They would like to flaunt them without disclosing their orign”.

On a concluding note, Biraj shared an interesting anecdote. When she had made up her mind to start her own LGD business, she met her GURUJI to seek his blessings. Her Guruji asked Biraj, “what business are you getting into ?”. Biraj replied,” I am starting my new LGD business”. Her Guruji smiled and replied,” LGD is a product category, what is the purpose of your business?”.

When Biraj replied, “my purpose is to benefit my consumer by helping them fulfill their dreams and aspirations”, Guruji blessed her wholeheartedly.

Everbrite Jewellery: Fortune favors the brave.

In the Indian jewellery industry, retailing branded jewellery is quite rare. In a landscape where the typical jeweler mindset is not to promote someone else’s brand, a young startup entrepreneur has done something that is unheard of. Mehul Jain, the founder of Everbrite Jewellery – a Lab Grown Diamond Jewellery brand, has set up a network of shop in shops at 10 Indian and 6 American locations within a short span of 2 years. Mehul shared Everbrite’s journey in conversation with Anil Prabhakar

Mehul Jain, the founder of Everbrite Jewellery, is no newcomer in the Gems and Jewellery industry. Having worked with some of the leading industry players in a plethora of roles, Mehul has spent nearly 15 years

Being a longtime tech-geek, his pursuit of knowledge has always extended beyond the classroom. This self-taught coder brought to life various tech platforms. This strong passion for innovation and the drive to bring something truly unique to the table led Mehul to take a deep dive into the art and science of technologically company, Jewelex. While working there, he spotted a nascent opportunity to build a branded LGD business space in India.

While most players were focusing on the existing US marketspace, Mehul concentrated his efforts on the Indian market, setting up Everbrite Jewellery (EB) in November 2020. Since inception Mehul was clear in his mind – he did not want to join the rat race and thus would avoid the low margin commodity business. His objective was to create a luxury brand of his own in the promising LGD category, one that the masses can resonate with. He opened a small boutique at Opera House to cater to individual consumers and understand their mindset. The choice of location itself is ironical as Panchratna building in Opera House was once the epicenter of Mumbai’s flourishing mined diamond trade before the business shifted to BDB. Panchratna still has offices of diamond merchants, but the scale has come down.

D2C journey :

Everbrite’s D2C push resulted in a good response. In addition to the boutique, creation of an e-commerce enabled website in May 2021, social media presence and participation in consumer exhibitions helped gather eyeballs. It also helped the Everbrite team to understand the consumer requirements and their mindset to accept a new category. Consumers’ soon started sharing screenshots of EB Jewellery from FB and Instagram through WhatsApp, showing intention to purchase and customise jewellery, which was easily converted to repeated purchases.

Mehul’s belief in his product and customer reception of the LGD category got a boost when a friend sent him a picture from Kolhapur of a man carrying an EB bag. Another pleasant surprise and a WOW moment was when he himself spotted a lady in Chennai carrying an EB bag in her hand.

Customization is an integral part of the business. No matter how affordable the jewellery may be, consumers want to see how it looks on them. Besides, sizing is another important element that may require physical trials. Therefore, for a jewellery brand, even though most of the business may happen online, it is essential to have a physical presence. It could be by way of shop in shop, an exclusive boutique or a try at home service. While there are genuine enquiries generated from social media, it may not be possible to offer try at home service in remote areas.

Mehul quickly understood that pure online presence had its limitations and offered Payment On Delivery facility (POD) within 3 months of being in business. The brand soon received a sizable number of enquiries from Maharashtra, Gujarat, Punjab, Assam and south Indian cities such as Chennai, Bangalore, and Coimbatore.

Breakthrough :

In order to grow, a brand needs visibility and a wide geographical reach. Everbrite therefore approached jewelers in Mumbai and nearby cities. Their response was lukewarm due to a host of reasons such as fear of antagonizing the customers, undisclosed mixing of mined and lab grown diamond jewellery, falling inventory prices, etc.

Building a retail network is an uphill task and needs a lot of patience. Everbrite’s perseverance paid off when a leading jeweler from Gujarat agreed for a shop in shop arrangement, after multiple visits from the EB Team. In the initial stages, there was curiosity and eagerness followed by product acceptance. However, it took some time for the retail partner to make up his mind. There’s an interesting anecdote on how a potential customer helped sign the deal.

The retailer’s experience showed that consumers are always looking for novelty, and they decided to test the new concept with a close family friend. Mehul and team were invited to make their case for LGDs. The team carried to Surat and showcased 150 pieces to the retailer’s friend. The family ended up buying 16 jewellery pieces in a single evening.

Thus began the business relationship with the retailer. Similarly, the EB team struck gold in another city. In order to gauge the consumer sentiments towards LGDs, a three-day exhibition was organized at a retailer’s store. Due to the overwhelming consumer response, the team was asked to extend their stay. An agreement was signed on the fourth day!

Simultaneously, Everbrite Jewellery reached out to US retailers as well, where the jewellery is being retailed as branded and the brand hasn’t encouraged WHITE LABEL requests.

“Everbrite has always focused on creating differentiated solitaire jewellery collections. Our core collection comprises of sizes ranging from 40 cents to 1 carat. LGDs should focus on design, adornment and distinctiveness. We’re here to fulfil the aspirations of millions who want to get their hands on diamond jewellery.Affordable luxury should be easily accessible.”. Says Mehul.

“Our objective has always been to build a D2C LGD jewellery brand that is innovative, proactive and profitable. We have therefore adopted a sustainable, profitable and robust business model that delivers results”. He adds.

Jewellery is a very personal long term purchase and being an adornment product, touch and feel are important attributes. Consumers need to be educated about the technology, functionality and aesthetics of this new product category.

It was therefore essential to adopt an omni-channel approach and have a digital as well as physical presence.

While EB’s focus is to build a lasting relationship with the end consumer, their channel jewellery partners play an important role too.Abrand needs to earn their trust by empowering retailers with knowledge, training to their staff, marketing and VM support, which Everbrite happily proffers.

A case for LGD business :

“Our approach to business is different as compared to other startups. For us EARN RATE is more important than BURN RATE. Our emphasis has always been on profitability and I am happy to share the fact that we are a small company with team strength of 15 and Profitable”.

Says Mehul

“Most startups have the backing of fund houses or PE firms and for them volume and scale are more important. Their investors don’t mind cash burn, we however, believe

“We would look at investors who in addition to funds will provide guidance, domain expertise and professionalism”. He adds.

Most jewelers find the breakthrough of lab grown diamond jewellery difficult to understand, appreciate and adopt. Mehul firmly believes that to succeed in LGD business, a retailer needs to bring in financial and emotional capital. A belief in product and its potential backed by resources would definitely yield better results.

Lab grown diamonds are technologically advanced products, and like all tech products, they’re getting updated constantly. Rather than being unduly worried about the rise and drop in diamond prices, the team is focused on catering to the needs of those who want to adorn distinctive diamond jewellery and fulfil their aspirations at affordable prices, as eco-consciously as possible.

Expansion plan: The Everbrite team has chalked out an ambitious expansion plan for the first half of 2023. The brand will soon be available in the states of Madhya Pradesh, New Delhi and West Bengal.