Stylemydiamonds.com: Customise your jewellery online

Stylemydiamonds.com, the retail wing of Diamonds Factory-London, was launched in India early this year, making its way into the competitive online retail scenario in the country. With its strong focus on educating consumers along with retailing a wide range of jewellery, the online retailer, aims at reaching consumers through offline lounges as well.

Nitin Raj, Chief Marketing Officer, Stylemydiamonds.com shares what the brand brings on platter for the Indian consumers.

 

• iGrow: From Europe and the US, how did India emerge as the next best place to be? What kind of R&D was done before the entry and any special findings?

Nitin Raj (NR): India is a challenging market and we took two years before we officially launched as we wanted other players to test the waters before we enter into the market. We had been keeping a close watch on the players who were entering into the Indian market and all the tactics they were following to attract customers to buy online.

We have always believed that the product has to be so good, that it sells by itself and we do not have to go and sell it. Indian market is still not ready for making extremely large purchases online due to the fear factor, though transactions between Rs 8,000 – Rs 50,000 is fine, anything beyond that the customer wants to have the trust factor. This is the reason why we have opened our first lounge in Mumbai. So the trust can be established that we are here to stay.

Mirari Jewels goes online

With an aim to reach easily the today’s busy women, especially the entrepreneurs and working women, Mirari Jewels takes its brand and products online with www.mirari.com.

Along with the outlets in metro cities, the digital shop will serve as an extraordinary platform to jewellery lovers of all age groups as it will showcase the creative and magnificent designs of Mira Gulati, the creative head at Mirari.

At the Mirari online store, the consumers can choose from a wide variety of pendants, rings, ethnic and fancy earrings, traditional and contemporary bangles, elegant bracelets and neckpieces. The collection is priced from Rs 8,000 onwards. The portal shall tailor its designs to meet each client’s personality and unique sense of style.

Sharing the excitement of going digital, Mira Gulati expressed, “Being an entrepreneur myself I understand how busy today’s woman is. Along with managing professional and personal life, she is expected to be presentable all the time. Understanding the time constraints, the customer does not have to personally visit the store, the online store will help our customers to make the purchase at their own time and convenience. They will also have the option to design their own jewellery with us. We want our customers to have maximum choice and flexibility in terms of designs and shopping.”

Shopify secures $100 mln Series C funding

The ecommerce platform provider, Shopify, has raised $100 million in Series C funding round. The funds have come in from OMERS Ventures and Insight Venture Partners along with existing investors Bessemer Venture Partners, FirstMark Capital, Georgian Partners and Felicis Ventures.

The funding will be utilised to let the company work towards its plans to expand focus on offline retail world as well. Shopify is aiming to introduce a unique product that will fuse the offline world with the online world.

Keeping the offline retail world, the company earlier this year had launched a point-of-sale system and Square-style mobile card reader. These products were to synchronise the in-store and online inventory, process and accept credit cards, and generate sales reports.

Zivame raises $6 mln

India’s niche ecommerce player, Zivame, raises $6 million funding from Unilazer Ventures.

A Ronnie Screwvala‘s funding firm, Unilazer is investing most of the money along with other participating investors. The funds will be utilised to up the marketing and also upgrade the platform to make it more personalised for consumers.

Zivame is India’s leading name in online retail of lingerie and sleepwear for women. The e-retailer also recently ventured in fast fashion products.

Now bid for products as Pepperfry launches Auctions service

One of India’s leading marketplace for home and furniture segment, expands it services as it launches auctions. With this service, the consumers will be able to win items at the price they wish to pay. Pepperfry Auctions is an exciting and engaging format for enthusiastic and evolved Indian shoppers who’d definitely enjoy the thrill of purchasing unique home merchandise by competing with fellow shoppers.

Pepperfry Auctions allow customers to bid for products that are perceived expensive and hence the customers can bid the price they wish to pay. Customers new to the auctions format can opt for Auto-bid which will act as their bidding manager and keep bidding on their behalf until the maximum amount set the by the customer is reached.

Kashyap Vadapalli, CMO-Pepperfry.com said “Pepperfry Auctions add excitement and provide a bit of an adrenaline rush for customers. This is a test pilot to help customers engage with the Pepperfry brand. Other categories such as Electronics and Apparel have bargain sales and there are ready price-references available that indicate the amount of savings. In Furniture and Home items the value is not only in the material and quality but also in the design and the concept, so auctions provide a fantastic opportunity for our customer to discover a price and also pay only what they wish as per the value they perceive. Our Auctions concept is simple, easy to use and coupled with a chance to take away a beautiful product for your home.”

 

India gears up for Great Online Shopping Festival

Tomorrow is indeed a day to remember, not just because its 11.12.13, but also a day to splurge online as Google announces the launch of Great Online Shopping Festival (gosf.in). The festival will go on from 11.12.13 to 13.12.13.

This year the 72 hour shopping festival has gone bigger has the categories participating includes eading eCommerce players, local & classified companies, online travel sites, auto companies, telecom companies, fashion labels, health and well being companies, to banking financial Services. Consumers can avail great discounts and deals.

The initiative was launched by Google last year to boost the adoption of online shopping in India and saw tremendous response with most players seeing over 350 percent growth in daily sales. The festival saw participation from all over India with 50 percent buyers making a online purchase for the first time. Speaking about the momentum of online shopping in India, Rajan Anandan, VP & Managing Director, Google India said, “Great Online shopping festival is India’s version of cyber monday in the west and is an exciting platform to raise awareness and consumer adoption of online shopping in India. With over 200 million Internet users in the country, more and more Internet users are opting to shop online and fueling the growth of both large multinational and homegrown companies. Industry estimates suggests that there are close to 20 million online shoppers in India and its estimated to grow to 50 million in next few years making it a 16 billion dollar industry.”

Buyers can look forward to exciting deals across categories. Great Online shopping festival promises to offer something for everyone with great discounts on footwear, imported cars, property deals, holiday packages, insurance, spa packages, event tickets, grocery coupons, books, jewellery etc. Buyers can find discounts ranging from 20% up to 80% in many categories. Upto 60% off on luxury watches, 20% off on air tickets on domestic routes, upto 50 % off on speakers, headphones and men’s accessories, upto 80% off on home decor, flat 40% off on furniture, upto 50% off on TVs, upto 40% on mobile phones, upto 45% computers and tablets, upto 30% on cameras, 40% off on mens footwear and many more.

 

Amazon launches ‘One Day Delivery’ service; pilots COD

The ecommerce marketplace, Amazon India, has launched its pilot project for Cash on Delivery service driven by India Post. The service is being tried along with reverse logistics.

COD will only be practiced on products that are being ‘Fulfilled by Amazon’. The customer can see the tag of ‘Fulfilled by Amazon’ on the product and “Eligible for Cash on Delivery” on the product details page. COD is currently being offered with no extra charges but going further a convenience fee of Rs 39 will be charged.

The marketplace has also launched ‘One Day Delivery’ service. The service is limited to selected pin codes and cities including Bangalore, Mumbai, New Delhi, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad and Pune. So customers in the selected pincodes can choose for the service at the time of check-out. To avail the service, you have to pay Rs 99.

Here comes Art-tickles: Showcase your creative talents and reach new heights

Art-tickles, is an initiative started by iGrow, committed to entrepreneurship & retail. As the name suggests, Art-tickles, is being developed as a community to promote and nurture the ‘Creativepreneurs’ and bringing forth entrepreneurs who have leveraged their creativity into their business. Art-tickles is a platform to bring a wide array of Creativepreneurs under one roof and promote their works across various products and service categories. We believe that pure creativity has no limits thus, the Creativepreneur could be a person who designs and makes products that are exclusive or custom made like apparel, jewellery, home decor, footwear, perfumes etc. and also, can be people who offer creative services, for instance, in the field of photography, sculpting, painting, cake baking, makeup and many other things. The only aim is to promote creative brands which at times go unnoticed in the mass market industry.

Going further the vision is to form a community and have skill based workshops, networking events, exhibitions, award night’s etc. where best practices are shared and propagated.

Come this 17th January 2014, Art-tickles will kick start the community by bringing together handpicked designers to showcase their products and services to a wide array of consumers at a 3 Day Event at The Stainless Art Gallery, Mira Corporate Suites, Ishwar Nagar (Near New Friends Colony), New Delhi.

You are invited to showcase:

Exclusive, customised and non-mass market products	Creative consumer dedicated services
Apparels Accessories Jewellery Footwear Home Furnishing/Home Improvement Gadgets/Accessories Kid’s uitlity Stationery Green Products Invitations Others	Photography Interiors Bakes & Cakes Gadget Customisation Packaging Beauty & Makeup Chocolate making SURPRISE US WITH MORE

 

• Benefits 360°:
• If your focus is creating a niche brand then Art-tickles is you platform. The event ensures you Benefits 360°:
• Brand Exclusivity: Help you create your own niche among consumers
• Brand Visibility: The brand will get a strong stand which at times goes unnoticed among mass market products.
• Dedicated audience: B2C & B2B
• Page 3 visitors
• Media Visibility

MAIL US AT : eventarttickles@gmail.com

Bipasha Basu goes entrepreneur route; launches The Trunk Label with The Label Corp.

One of India’s renowned actress, Bipasha Basu, has launched her online selling portal. The portal, The Trunk Label, will be launching officially on 4th December under The Label Corp., the celebrity ecommerce company. But you can already visit the website and sign up for the future communications.

This is The Label Corp.’s third venture after they launches Sussane Roshan’s home decor portal and Malaika Arora Khan‘s fashion products portal. Bipasha’s ecommerce venture will be selling fashion accessories specially recommended and styled by the actress herself.

Bipasha will also be a stakeholder in the venture.

Ethos Watches goes online; offers special services

Ethos Watches, a conglomerate which brings exquisite and luxury timepieces, has gone online as it launches http://www.ethoswatches.com portal. The portal, though doesn’t let’s you make purchases, but you can choose and also select watches you would want to purchase.

Customer, through the portal, can utilise the special support system called Luxury Watch Helpline where in he/she can dial in and speak to Luxury Watch Consultants for guidance in choosing the right watch. With this you can also get the Luxury Watch Consultant can arrange for an exclusive exhibition of the selected piece at the nearest store or even at your home.

The website has over 3000 watches on display, meticulously segregated by strap type, dial colour, watch size, brand to name a few and over 30 luxury brands including Carl F Bucherer, Hermes, Breitling, Blancpain, Omega, Tag Heuer and many more.

What more, flaunt your choices across social media. So go ahead, ‘Pin it’, ‘Share it’, ‘Like it’, or ‘Tweet it’.