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Total Number of Subscribers: 1626 |
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Date: 25th April 2010 |
Compiled by: M Sathya Kumar |
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Mitesh Gajera, Cygnus Fine Jewellery |
Where do you get most of your business
from?
Cygnus as a brand gets most of its
business in the Multi Brand Outlets (MBO) i.e. the shop-in-shop format
because of the already set vast distribution chain. Its availability in
stores like Shoppers Stop and Lifestyle, etc which generates a good number of
footfalls helps in keeping the conversion rates higher. In the case of
Exclusive Brand Outlets (EBO) i.e. stand alone show rooms, there is a
maturity level period wherein when we operate for 3-4 years after which we
see that the awareness for that showroom rises.
How would you define the demographics of
the typical Cygnus customer?
I would say our customers are the youth
and the working class between the age of 20 to 40 years, who are buying on an
impulse. Since we are present in departmental stores, with products in the
price range of Rs 5,000 to Rs 20,000, people tend to go for our products as
gifts rather than a planned buying like for a marriage.
How do you differentiate Cygnus from other brands out there?
What differentiates the brand is the
product on offer, the quality, the customer service, after sales support,
etc. In terms of product the differentiator would be that, on a regular basis
we have theme based collections being launched. One other the crucial thing
being where the product is sourced from. Since we are a whole channel brand,
because the diamonds are sourced and manufactured by our parent company Laxmi
Diamonds – A DTC Sight holder, the confidence level of the consumer
rises in that itself.
How do you spot trends and then actually create trends?
Since we are a widely distributed brand,
we have first hand experience shared directly from the consumer. We receive a
lot of feedback from the consumer on what kind of jewellery are they looking
for, what kind of and colors of stones are they are looking for, etc. Also,
being a B2B company, the wholesalers also get us a wide range of inputs which
they get from the jewelers to who sell our products. All this feedback is
analyzed at our head office, which is then worked on and future trends are
derived.
Surrounded by competition how to grow and
maintain your market share?
Competition is healthy for any business.
We believe that more the number of competitors, more the business that will
be generated. To maintain a lead, it is important to train your staff well so
that the conversion rates are higher than the other brands. Also, your
product line should speak for itself. The quality maintained by the brand,
after sales support, customer service etc should be checked upon time and
again. Finally, one has to regularly innovate products.
What is the scope of innovation in this
category of business?
Innovation comes in terms of merchandises
only - the product that you are offering. Jewellery is something that needs
to be innovated every day to create new things. Design element is a major
factor while a consumer is selecting a product. The customer who wears my
products should feel that the design is very good and is generating added
value too.
How do you retain your workforce?
As the age of my sales staff is between 18
to 25 years, there is always a chance that these people after 25 years of age
will move on to something else. We generally don’t hire someone who is
above 25 years as he/she would not fit into our brand as a sales person on
the counter. We always look for young people and are not bothered about attrition
as much.
What is the scope of expansion and
diversification in this category?
The scope is wide. How you grab the
opportunity is up to one’s portfolio. As far as business expansion
goes, we are focusing more into stand alone show rooms in the next 5 years.
The shop-in-shop format will grow as the departmental stores and the chain
stores grow. So, if a Shoppers Stop opens 15 new stores we will also open 15
new outlets with them. On the other hand we are going to target the tier 2
and tier 3 cities where the markets are and the brand awareness is growing
slowly and steadily. So, there we are targeting stand alone stores.
As far as diversification is concerned, I
would say that once we reach to a certain level we would diversify into
accessories along with the jewellery.
What are the channels you employ to spread
brand awareness?
First of all you need to identify the
target audience for your brand. In terms of Cygnus, we have very less
presence on TV. For instance, If I’m not present in
What was your first big success after you
ventured out on your own?
As of for now it’s too early for me
to say because it’s only been 4 or 5 years while I’ve been
engaged in the retail market. I’m still in the ways of achieving my
goals. But as a small milestone I think making Cygnus a success story within
the past 4 to 5 years is quite special for me.
In terms of setbacks, were there any from
where you got to learn a lot?
I would not say that there have been huge
set backs as I think as of now Cygnus is growing on a day to day basis.There
have been times when we had o9pened 2 to 3 stores and felt that those were
the wrong decisions, we closed them down. We learned from this mistakes and
applied that while opening and operating new stores. We also got to know what
are the things that goes in selecting a location.
What according to you should an aspiring
entrepreneur avoid if he is getting into the jewelry business?
I would say do not hurry into anything
when you are getting into retail. The most important aspect of retail is to
have patience in yourself and the investment that you have made. In retail
one needs to invest and wait for a period of 5 to 10 years. If you are
looking for a short term goal I would say it is a very negative approach.
The same goes for the industry too. In the
jewelry segment we’ve seen a lot of brands come and go because of the
same reason that they were thinking of achieving short term goals and
aspiring to get successful in a very short period of time.
Article
was earlier published in one of the reputed business magazine.
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