Melorra - The Everyday Fine Jewelery Brand
Founded by Saroja Yeramilli, Melorra is a fine jewellery "fashion trend inspired" brand established in 2015 and is headquartered in Bengaluru, Karnataka India. With operations since 2016, Melorra c
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Founded by Saroja Yeramilli, Melorra is a fine jewellery "fashion trend inspired" brand established in 2015 and is headquartered in Bengaluru, Karnataka India. With operations since 2016, Melorra creates unique gold and diamond pieces in sync with global fashion trends that are fun, easy to wear and crafted for everyday use. Saroja as an entrepreneur has immense experience in retail and expertise in setting up a multicentre retail chain. She has leveraged her knowledge to redefine the contemporary fashion jewellery space in the country. Melorra was born with a passion for innovation and yeramilli’s extensive collaboration with industry bodies like the World Gold Council, Diamond Trading Corporation (DeBeers), and Platinum Gold International.
She is a seasoned professional with 20 years of diverse experience in building successful brands in India and the USA. Saroja is responsible for transforming the brand Tanishq into an aspirational jewellery brand in the country. Her professional milestones include launching Tanishq stores in the USA and launching work-wear jewellery for the first time in the Indian jewellery segment. An alumnus of Xavier Institute of Management, she started her career in Ogilvy and Mather as an account executive. With a passion for gaining knowledge, she had joined Mudra communications to develop her sense of the market. She then joined Titan in 1994 as the advertising head and internally moved to head sales for Tanishq.
During her tenure at Tanishq, she proved her expertise in generating consumer demand and achieved high profitability. She later moved to head operations at the Marico-Kaya skin clinic. With vast proficiency in various fields from sales to advertising, Saroja was still on the lookout to acquire new knowledge in the field of marketing. She shifted to Dell Pvt ltd. to understand the retail space better.
After two decades of profound experience, Saroja founded Melorra - India’s leading technologically advanced fine jewellery brand whose designs are original, contemporary and fashion-forward.
Melorra is available on desktop, iOS and Android, and on a mobile responsive site. With 250+ employees currently, Melorra plans to invest in marketing and experience centres to cater to the growing customers.
As a young woman, Yeramilli never quite found the kind of jewellery that she would look for. While there existed and still exist several older brands, all of them seemed to be making only traditional jewellery. That gap stayed with her and when e-commerce happened, it looked like an opportunity.
She really felt that younger women's needs weren't being met by the traditional jewellery industry and then e-commerce was fascinating. So the combination of the two and her love for building brands came together in the idea of Melorra.”75 per cent of the brand's consumers are under the age of 35, and 30 per cent under the age of 25. Melorra is said to be the cusp of fashion, jewellery and technology.
Business Model of Melorra
Melorra operates on a no-inventory model. Every single piece of jewellery that they sell is made after getting an order. Yeramilli says this not only saves a lot of capital, making the business far more efficient, it also talks volumes about the social impact footprint.
In recent times, the fast-fashion industry has come under the scanner of climate activists who have criticized the environmental harm that comes along with the tag of affordability.
“By having a no inventory model, we only make what a customer requires, which leads to a huge reduction in carbon footprint and being sustainable. Why make it if somebody is not willing to buy it?” Melorra launches a new collection of at least 75 designs every Friday, with each having been inspired by global trends. They only take 40 days to design a collection. It's a global first concept, in terms of the speed of new production.
On the manufacturing side, the company only uses 3D printing facilities. The company uses casting when it comes to gold jewellery, making it lightweight and affordable. It is extremely important the price points that they sell at are affordable as they have positioned themselves as a daily wear brand.
“We are positioning fine jewellery as an accessory, and not just as an investment,” She says. Melorra has delivered to over 1,500 towns across the country and has the capacity to take orders from any pin code.
Growth Plans
Very recently in Oct'21 they raised $25 MN and in October'20, they raised $12 MN in funding from Lightbox, BlackSoil Capital and some family offices including the Burmans of consumer giant Dabur. Yeramilli says the company has massive plans going forward, with aggressive hiring, expansion of their offices as well as facilities. In the current fiscal year, she says revenue has grown more than 500 per cent over last year and the expectations are that the numbers would double next year. She says the company has very strong margins, probably even the highest in the industry. Profitability, considering that they are investing in growth, is a few years away. The target is to attain breakeven by fiscal 2023.
Product Plans
Melorra aspires to have 50% revenues from online & 50% from offline retail stores (at scale). Currently, the mix is 95%-5%. With a roadmap of 350+ stores in next 3 years, Melorra is focussing heavily on:
- Harmonised Retail Experience
- Consistent Pricing across all channels
- Integration with leading marketplace like Flipkart, Amazon etc.
- Optimizing for supply chain & delivery, with faster delivery times
- International Launch
- Vernacular & voice-based shopping experience to tap into the masses and Tier-2 & beyond consumers
- Introduction of 14Karat, Rose-Gold, White-Gold as a selection experience
- Integrated brand and marketing communication, including loyalty & reward systems
- & more...
Business sans stock
The entrepreneur notes that the Indian market is a key adopter of the western style. The success of worldwide quick style manufacturers like Zara and H&M in the nation. However, she says that even when the western style is reaching each part of the nation, fine jewellery has taken a backseat and Melorra aspires to fill this hole.
However, it additionally follows a novel enterprise mannequin without premade stock. Users can select from designs featured on the website and app and the startup begins manufacturing solely as soon as the order is positioned. This additionally permits the choice for customisation and the product is normally delivered between 12 and 15 days. From necklaces to chains, bracelets, rings, earrings, and pendants, with treasured and semi-precious gemstones, the lightweight jewellery is priced up to Rs 3 lakh. However, Melorra emphasizes that the widest variety of merchandise can be found beneath Rs 50,000.
Funding, Income & Harmonised Retail
With all the funding, Melorra claims to have clocked an income run rate of Rs 160 crore in 3.5 years and recorded year-on-year progress of 400 p.c in FY 2019. For the year 2021-22, Melorra is aiming for Rs 350-crore revenue through a harmonised retail approach where online and offline work in tandem. It is one convergence of consumer shopping. The latest designs which Melorra launches every week, a part of it (close to 20%) is made and kept in store. Because these are ready products, they are also available as QuickShip in online channels (site & app). If a consumer places a QuickShip product order, instead of 12-15 days, these products reach consumers in 3-5 days (from stores).
Melorra Insights
Total Funding amount: $38.4M
Investors: 15+ (Lightbox, Symphony International Holdings, ValueQuest, 9Unicorns, Venture Catalysts & more)
Employees: 250+
No. of Retail Stores: 10
Consumer Touch Points: Desktop, M-Site, Android APP, iOS APP, Physical Retail Stores
https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/346593
https://yourstory.com/companies/melorra/amp
https://www.entrepreneur.com/author/saroja-yeramilli
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