Looking to bring fast jewellery to the Indian market

This D2C jewellery brand has changed the perception of traditional gold buying and caters to women keen on trendy items that suit their lifestyle.

India’s undying love for the yellow metal is quite well known, but the country’s jewellery industry is still convention-bound. Buying heavy gold jewellery for big occasions like weddings has always been the norm instead of independent women choosing and buying for themselves. Saroja Yeramilli felt new-age women need new options, which led to Melorra, a digital-first gold jewellery brand with designs inspired by global fashion trends.

Melorra claims to be India’s fastest-growing jewellery brand, clocking a CAGR of 200%, while its FY21 revenue stood at INR 79 Cr. So far, it has a customer base of 2.5 Lakh and has sold more than 32K products across 3,000 locations. The startup has also set up brand experience centres in the major malls of Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Lucknow and Bhopal to increase its brand impact and customer engagement. It has recently started to export its jewellery to the US, the UK, the UAE and Singapore.

Known as the Zara of the jewellery world because of its successful implementation of the fast fashion concept, Melorra’s trendy designs and lightweight jewellery has made gold fashionable and affordable again from an investment asset. Design is one area where the company has to constantly iterate given the threat from copycat brands and knock-offs, so this is the company’s biggest moat in the fast jewellery world, along with its significant D2C experience.

Melorra has disrupted the age-old jewellery industry in two ways. It has changed consumer perception by positioning gold buying as a choice instead of treating it as a family heirloom, secure investment or gift items bestowed by men. The company has introduced the concept of ‘fast fashion’ in gold jewellery. Currently, it rolls out a new collection every week, featuring as many as 75 designs in sync with global trends. It has already designed more than 15K pieces and follows the spring-summer and autumnwinter fashion cycles.

The homegrown jewellery brand is eyeing massive offline growth in the next four years, aiming to set up 350 retail centres. Melorra is looking to take its revenue by next March to INR 700 Cr and work on reaching INR 7,500 Cr by FY26.