CARATLANE OVERVIEW

CaratLane.com is Indias trusted online jewellery retailer of

diamonds and gemstone jewellery, solitaires and gold coins. It is
the brainchild of Mithun Sacheti, the scion of Jaipur Gems, and
seasoned IT entrepreneur Srinivasa Gopalan. Together, they
founded CaratLane.com in 2008, a unique amalgamation of
technology and the traditional jewellery business.
CaratLane.com is Indias first and largest online diamond and
diamond jewellery portal offering a wide range of solitaire
diamonds, solitaire based jewellery, readymade diamond
jewellery, gold and engraved jewellery. It has tied up with more
than 4000 vendors worldwide to offer a wide choice of solitaire
diamonds. The site carries solitaire diamonds of all shapes,
colour, cut and clarity grades, which start from 30 cents going all
the way up to 10+ carats. This limitless choice makes
CaratLane.com the largest diamond store in India. Customers
can either buy these as solitaire diamonds or get them made into
solitaire-based jewellery. CaratLane.com offers a wide range of
ring, pendant and earring designs. Once customers select their
diamond they can get it set on a design of their choice.
In a short span of about seven years, CaratLane.com managed to
become the de-facto choice of Indians shopping online for
diamonds and jewellery. CaratLane.com offers its customers
diamonds, solitaires, gold jewellery and gold coins at competitive
prices. CaratLane.com allows customers to choose from over
120,000 solitaires and customize their purchase. Traditionally,
customers have purchased diamonds and solitaires based on the
jewellers advice. This is because diamonds were wrongly
perceived as complex products. It aims to educate customers
about diamonds and help them make informed choices. It helps
customers deepen their knowledge of diamonds and jewellery
before they actually make the purchase, thus placing the power

in the customers hands. In a pioneering effort to bridge the gap

between offline and online, CaratLane.com launched Try At
Home an innovative service which enables consumers enjoy
best of both worlds virtual & real. CaratLane.com also offers
customers the option of Cash-On-Delivery (up to Rs 49,000 in 41
cities across the country), making transactions easier. Since
CaratLane.com does not carry inventory and hence does not have
store overheads, it is able to pass on savings of up to 30% to the
customers.
Over the years, CaratLane.com has launched various compelling
jewellery collections (Candy Crush, Drops, Radiance, Eterna &
Fleur, to name a few) based on deep design stories, which have
received an encouraging response. This has been possible due to
our understanding of the context of todays Indian women. We
design keeping their aesthetic needs of modern and
contemporary jewellery in mind. All jewellery collection launches
go through a stringent and ruthless evaluation process, right
from design to development to production, all of which is
managed in-house by specialist in their respective fields, to have
total control on the product quality, be chic, unique in the market
place and turn around jewellery collections every 15 to 20 days,
which keep the brand fresh and dynamic. Consumers who have
been purchasing from CaratLane.com swear by our unique
designs and generally believe that their regular jeweller/
jewellery brand is unable to provide such designs.
CaratLane.com was recently adjudge the Best Ecommerce
website at the 4th India Digital Awards held by IAMAI and was
also featured as a case study in the recently published book
called the Mouse Charmers by Anuradha Goyal.
The year 2013 and 2014 saw CaratLane.com getting active with
multimedia campaigns. They launched their nationwide launch
Campaign in Jan 2013. The campaign predominantly aimed to
launch and establish CaratLane.com as a brand that assists

inexperienced men in taking control of the entire relationship

milestone situation. In this case, the most popular relationship
milestone is The Proposal with the solitaire offering from
Caratlane.com. The campaign has delivered on setting the tone
for the brand in the market place and achieving the desired
business objectives. In October 13, they launched a brandactional campaign around jewellery with the theme of its a
great time to be a woman. The communication was on air
over 4 months till Feb 14. The communication was appreciated
and the campaign delivered on driving direct traffic to the
website.

Current Marketing Analysis

Try-At-Home is an industry first from Carat Lane. It always tries
to leverage this aspect with respect to its rivals. Apart from that,
it has introduced, virtual trial feature on its app .People can
send their selfies and try out the designs virtually. People can
also customize diamonds using the app.
Their Message: - At Carat Lane, we are doing our part to make
sure that our customers receive conflict-free diamonds and not
the blood diamonds through Kimberley Process.
The ad:Its great time to be a woman
The idea from the beginning was to capture the new age Indian
woman. We needed to tell a story about this woman, who is
forward looking, successful, has an active life, perfectly balances
her personal and professional life, is financially and emotionally
independent, is also image conscious, loves design, makes a huge
effort to manage all titular roles in life supremely well, and is
cheerful doing all of it. But most importantly, she loves herself
and does not hesitate to invest in herself.

Nationwide Marketing also established CaratLane.com as a

brand that assists inexperienced men in taking control of the
entire relationship milestone situation. In this case, the most
popular relationship milestone is The Proposal with the solitaire
offering from Caratlane.com.
Meaningful Alliances: Some key alliances/ partnerships they
have done include the likes of American Express, Platinum Guild
International, BMW, Evoluzione, The Amethyst Room, etc. In
addition to this they have partnered with Bollywood movies of
the likes of Shaadi Ke Side Effects and Dhoom 3 to seamlessly
incorporate their brand with relevant content.
ITS GREAT TIME TO BE A WOMAN:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=26&v=gHXSZNDweK4
TRY ON: https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=qSN_Jj5zlJk&spfreload=10
KEY POINTS:
Jewellery retailer CaratLane plans to spend Rs 40 crores on
television and print marketing campaigns in the next one year.
The company rolled out a multimedia advertising campaign
which started off with a television commercial and will be
followed by radio, print and digital campaign. The TV spot will
focus on the recently- launched mobile app which was developed
in-house by its technology team comprising 70 engineers and has
been developed over a period of two and a half years.
To strengthen its advertising plans, the company is looking for
creative agencies although it has not called for a pitch yet. At
present it is working with Mumbai-based boutique agency Ideas
at Work, which has prepared the commercial.
They launched the Solitaire Experience Lounge in Delhi which
is a high-end technology walk through store where users can try

on jewellery, get acquainted with the online process and interact

with diamond consultants. They came up with similar lounges in
5 more cities like Hyderabad, Mumbai.
SEGMENTATION:
Geographic : URBAN , SEMI-URBAN
Psychographic : GREGARIOUS,FORWARD LOOKING,IMAGE
CONSCIOUS
Demographic : 20-40 YEARS of Age, FEMALE & MALE
PROFESSIONALS BELONGING TO UPPER MIDDLE AND
UPPER CLASS
POSITIONING: They have positioned themselves as the
Market leader in terms of the way jewellery is brought.
Their try at home and virtual trial feature is a testimony
to that. Their idea is to capture the imagination of Young
Indian Women who are forward looking, modern,
independent.

COMPETITOR ANALYSIS:
Bluestone
Bluestone is a part of Bluestone Jewellery and Lifestyle Pvt.
Ltd. Bluestone is an online jewellery store that houses high
quality jewellery and accessories with strikingly exquisite
designs. With its affordable rates and unique shopping
experience, Bluestone claims to be a one stop destination
for making any given day an occasion.
KEY INVESTORS:
Ratan Tata

Prasanth Prakash , Partner, Accel Partners

Vani KolaMD, Kalaari Capital
Bluestone recently raised its second round of funding worth
$10 million from Kalaari Capital, with participation from its
earlier investors Accel Partners and Saama Capital. A
majority of the funds will be used in marketing and brand
building activities. The company also released its new
commercial, made by advertising agency McCann
Erickson. The current campaigns are to test the customer
response to the brand. Armed with Rs 4 crore advertising
budget, many more activities to build the brand is in the
offing.
Blue Nile:
Blue Nile is an online specialty retailer of fine jewelry. Blue
Nile was founded in 1999 and today is the largest online
retailer of diamonds. Blue Nile is based in Seattle,
Washington and competes with traditional jewelry stores
such as Tiffany & Co., and online retailer stores such as
James Allen, Belgium Diamonds and Angel City Jewelers.
The key feature of being able to search through thousands
of diamonds by carat weight, cut, clarity, color and other
characteristics, is what attracts many customers to the
website.
Blue Nile specializes in educating first-time shoppers about
diamond quality and making it easy for them to buy
engagement rings. Diamond rings account for 70 percent of
Blue Niles sales, and other diamond jewelry accounts for an
additional 20 percent. Blue Nile lists more than 150,000
loose diamonds in their online inventory at any given time
as well as several hundred settings.
PC Jeweller signed an exclusive collaboration agreement
with Blue Nile. The move indicates that the U.S. based

online jeweler is looking to tap into India's large jewelry

buying population. PC Jewellers collaboration with Blue
Nile aims to evaluate the Indian market for potential online
jewelry sales on a long term basis. The agreement is a
possible stepping stone toward a potential strategic
partnership between the two companies.

JEWELSOUK:

The Gitanjali Group owned Jewelsouk serves as a platform

for leading fine jewellery, fashion jewellery and watches
brands to come together under one roof and offer a wide
variety to the consumer. The emphasis in the new format is
to offer consumers easy access to a wide range of national
and international brands in a unique ambience that aims to
make shopping more pleasurable and more convenient. The
Indian consumer is demanding a shopping experience that
offers both the variety of choice and the high levels of
quality that she enjoys in other leading international cities.
Hence, JewelSouk aims to satisfy that need and boost the
modern retail segment of the trade. It will offer exquisite
jewellery and a few other branded lifestyle accessories to
satisfy every type of taste

Velvet case:
It is a part of Bluestone Jewellery and Lifestyle Pvt. Ltd. and
is an exclusive destination of 1000+ multi-designer, multigenre jewellery creations. The Mumbai-based company,
founded in 2012, earlier focused on selling customized
and designer jewellery through its portal and had raised Rs
6 crore from Chennai Angels last year. The website
currently processes about 1,200 orders per month and ships
to 15 countries outside India. Having opened an office in
New York, Velvet case is evaluating setting up an office in

Hong Kong or Singapore to serve the Greater China market.

Velvet case has pivoted to a marketplace model, adding 180
jewellery retailers and designers to the platform in a move
aimed at helping it reach more customers in a business
dominated by well funded players such as Tiger Globalbacked Caratlane and Ivy Capital-backed Bluestone. New
designers and retailers added to Velvet case will retail
through specific brand stores on the website, working on a
revenue share model. Designer Pallavi Foley and brands
such as Zoya by Tanishq and WamanHari Pethe are among
these players.
CANDERE:
Part of Enovate lifestyles Private Limited. All products are
made to order- which means, after order, it will be specially
made keeping in mind customers requirement. All the
products are made to order- which means, after the
customer orders; it will be specially made for keeping in
mind customer requirement and also be delivered within 7
days or 14 days, as per the expected delivery date
mentioned. Candere has now got its presence established in
the USA. The new online storeCandereDiamonds.com allows
customers to browse and purchase pieces from their latest
collection of high-end jewelry. With its fine quality and 'out
of the league' designs Candere has emerged as a highly
preferred and acknowledged brand amongst the elegancedemanding diamond lovers of today. The Candere collection
of diamond rings, necklaces and earrings has to its pride
sophisticated styles and patterns to suit the contemporary
trends in International fashion. Every sparkling piece of
jewelry item is articulately crafted to highlight the much
desired element of love that can be best expressed through
the timeless radiance of this precious stone. Candere offers
its customers jewelry with an international fashion appeal.

Consumer Insights
About the survey:
We conducted a survey on 90 respondents from cities such
as Delhi, Jaipur, Lucknow, etc.
The age group was 18-35 years and 81% respondents were
women.
All the respondents had shopped online for one product or
the other.
Response of the users
59% of the respondents had purchased jewelry from Carat
lanes website before
Most users first heard about Carat lane from peers or
discovered it online while wanting to purchase jewellery .
The biggest criteria while purchasing jewelry for both users
and non-users was quality.
21 respondents who saw the Carat lane advertisement on
TV/online liked it.
Customer experience ratings:
Very Bad-1
Bad-2
Average-12
Good-31
Very Good-7
Most users liked the website design, ease of access and
interactivity, with only 4 users disliking the website.
Some users suggested that the exchange policy should be
better and quicker as well as more assurance on quality is
desirable. While some suggested that there should be more
unique and original designs available.
Response of the non users

 Almost 35% respondents had not heard of Carat lane

before.41% hadnt purchased anything from the website.
Most of the non-users were skeptical about buying online
jewelry. They did not want to go for it even after knowing
being informed about the existence of many such websites.
Their major concerns regarding the product were- Quality,
safety and intangibility when buying the product online.
All the non users welcomed the idea of try at home jewelry
products.
The exchange policy when buying products online is a major
decision maker for them.
None of the non-users remembered seeing the Carat lane
ads online or on TV
They suggested some measures which could entice them
towards buying the online jewelry:
Additional discounts on the product.
Provide assurance about genuine quality of the
products.
Good customer service
Quick and efficient return policy.
Unique and original designs.
Visibility through better advertising and social media
presence and credibility by getting certified, etc.
We also conducted secondary research by observing the
reactions on social media to Carat lane by the users via media
such as blogs, product review websites, etc. Following points
could be concluded:
Positives:

Great customer support and service.

Satisfied with the designs and the collections available.
Customization of diamond rings well appreciated.
Good packaging and follow up on delivery.
The experience at Carat lane stores was very good.

 Try at home service termed as great and very satisfactory.

In case of grievances special discounts and goodies offered
to placate the customers.
Very well detailed and designed website.
Good discounts offered as compared to other websites
which are even more during festive seasons.
Negatives:
Shipping delays at times.
Tampered packaging raising concerns about safety and
authenticity.
The product received different in design than the one
ordered.
Concerns about the weight and quality of delivered
products, sometimes mismatch between the website and
original specifications.
Delayed reaction time in case of customer complaint.
In case of heavily discounted jewelry the consumer is
skeptical about the product quality and authenticity.
Good on design, low on functionality.
Some conclusions that can be drawn1. Online jewelry market still underpenetrated. Most of the
consumers are skeptical about buying costly items like diamonds,
on an online platform.
2. Most consumers are highly cost conscious whilst at the same
time expecting good quality. They mostly compare prices on
different websites before making a purchasing decision.
3. The men mostly buy gold coins from the website ,while the
women buy jewelry items.
4. Consumers are okay with using the products for gifting purposes
but for their own use they need a high level of reassurance hence
the issuance of certificates.
5. Try at home a good option because people mostly tend to buy
jewelry with their loved ones and want their advice on their

purchase decision. By introducing try at home option that barrier

of intangibility has been lifted.
6. Lifetime exchange option highly appreciated by the consumers.
7. Insured shipping highly appreciated .Also the fact that the
diamonds are ethically procured is welcomed by the customers.
8. Competitive price range from lowest to highest-something for
every pocket.
Hence it is apparent that Carat lane has established itself as a
reliable brand but the Indian consumer perspective still needs to
change to enable Carat lane to reach its full market potential.

RECOMMENDATIONS
After a review of the insights we came to a conclusion that the
awareness about Caratlane is extrememly dismal despite them
putting up advertisements in the TV ads, even movies like Dhoom
3 and on the internet. Apart from that there are other concerns
like the lack of trust by the consumers and no penetration among
the tier 2 and tier 3 cities by Caratlane. We have arrived at the
following set of suggestions for Caratlane.
Advertising key strengths
Caratlane has several good services that address the consumers
apprehensions about buying jewellery over the internet but their
awareness is low. Therefore the basic agenda for Caratlane in its
advertising should be making people more aware the following
facilities provided by it.
Purity certificate
Try at home feature
Insured delivery
30 month exchange policy
Contemporary designs
Huge discounts
Try the jewellery virtually feature in app.

Marriage specific jewellery

Caratlane is famous among the users for its contemporary
designs. That does not have to mean it cannot venture into
marriage specific jewellery to cater to the demands of the young

professional who would go for contemporary jewellery over

ethnic one.
Marriage range will lead to more monetary sales, as
jewellery for marriage is usually bought in combination with
other jewellery.
EMI Feature
Caratlane could introduce the EMI feature for more sales of
its jewellery range. It could tie up with a bank and offer
users more value for their money
Also, insurance for the jewellery bought online even after
delivery could be offered to the customers with the help of a
tie up to a bank.
Mens Range
Caratlane is missing out on the mens segment, which is a
huge potential new target market, especially for online
jewellery stores.
Cufflinks
Engagement rings
Studs
One to one Publicity
Setting up kiosks in malls, public places will really help
Caratlane as the personal touch feature is lacking in its
marketing campaigns.
They could set up some stalls in crowded places and let
buyers experience the whole process of buying jewellery
online.
PENETRATION IN TIER 2 AND TIER 3 CITIES

 Right now the majority of consumers are from the

metropolitan cities, especially Bangalore and Delhi, with the
help of better use of TV, Radio and Print the Tier 2 and Tier
3 cities should be reached out to for a wider consumer base.
Functionality-From Gifting To Personal Use And
Investment
Seasonal advertising
Caratlane is usually more proffered for gifting options of
contemporise jewellery. To shift the trend from a gifting option
to a personal use and also as a source of investment the
website should advertise its gold coins and the purity
certificates provided with them more. Especially during the
festival seasons.
Social Media Engagement
Caratlane has around 8ooKlikes on Facebook. But a dismal
2K followers on Twitter.
Blog engagement is again very low. Therefore a better
interaction with the consumers via the social media is
imperative for Caratlane to reach out to more consumers.
Apart form this the Facebook ads can also be made use of.
Better Website Experience-Shrinking Of Processes
The website as it is very consumer friendly but there are
some scope of improvements.
Buyers still have to go through several steps to reach a
particular stage. The search bar displayed on the homepage
does not offer much functionality other than autofill. Choose
a CaratLane clone script with simpler product discovery and
order placement processes for better engagement. Crowded

places and let buyers experience the whole process of

buying jewellery online.