Zariin – making online jewelry buying more lucrative

Mamta and Vidhi Gupta are the founders of a New Delhi based international jewelry label, called Zariin Jewelry, a handcrafted gold-dipped jewelry label. It’s on a mission to be a part of the happiness and self-expression story of women worldwide.

Founded in 2010, Zariin sells through over 21 countries. Keeping affordability and wearability at the fore, and with the tagline “Wear Jewelry Every Day”, the founders have succeeded to make a very distinctive positioning for Zariin as a go-to label for everyday jewelry.

In a discussion with Thought Habitat, they are sharing their professional journey.

Edited Excerpts:

Buying jewellery online in India is not considered a wise option. How did you manage to make it so lucrative that people would buy?

10 years back, the Indian jewelry landscape was very skewed- with fine jewelry and fast fashion jewelry covering the whole spectrum. We wanted to craft a bridge jewelry label that will be synonymous with both high quality and fashion. We had the vision to launch a label that will inspire women to make jewelry as part of their everyday sartorial self-expression.

To make online jewellery buying more lucrative, we attempted to remove the different barriers to purchase. By this, I mean we made our jewellery more accessible and affordable, such that customers can buy often and upgrade their jewellery closet.

We also invest our resources in creating troves of content that offer customers insights into styling and fashion tips, behind the scenes of the label, real women stories, etc. All this makes the brand more relatable and people buy with confidence, having already connected with the brand.

On the technology front, we deliver a top-notch user-friendly website design, seamless cart functionality, mobile optimization, promotional campaign management, and high-quality product and marketing content. This allows users to easily navigate the entire customer journey, from the homepage to the product detail page, to checkout.

What were the significant challenges that you both faced in this journey?

Since the international market has been one of our primary markets initially, we had to encounter several bureaucratic delays on account of import-export and customs. Sometimes the system seems to be working against the entrepreneur instead of abetting the machinery. Additionally, we had launched the uncut stone jewelry against the prevailing industry standards of polished and symmetrical gemstone jewelry.

So we had the challenge of educating the customer that this form of designing is more about the celebration of the imperfections and rawness of stones than about flawlessness and every piece being the same.

In fact, as part of our marketing messages, we took this opportunity to take this designing philosophy to a metaphorical level wherein we urged women to celebrate their uniqueness and rawness, and being unapologetically themselves. And it resonated!

Freshness is a key element in fashion. How do you manage to keep your collections fresh even during pandemic times when manufacturing and procurement are largely hit?

We have been launching a new collection every month even during the pandemic! This has largely been possible because of the teams being super adaptive and moving into the virtual settings efficiently and expeditiously. We learnt new ways to collaborate online, including working with artisans across the cities online too!

Manufacturing though impacted adversely, has been afloat with  safe social distancing practices in place. I think broadly we have learnt better ways of planning such that most of the work is now done online, and wherever physical contact is removed, it is minimal and optimised.

It has been quite a journey for you both with Zariin. Even though you were hit by the uncertainties of the pandemic, you turned it into an opportunity by growing your company business by 2x. Would you like to share what is the next thing on your plate?

Our vision is to become the leaders in the space of luxurious accessories that is not only aspirational but also accessible. We launched Chakra and  healing jewellery this year, and we continue to expand this portfolio of “jewelry with a meaning”. We also look forward to expanding in other product categories such as wellness, and plan to launch new products under that category soon. We have plans to dive deeper across different demographics such as men, a new target audience where we explored the field through our cufflinks, and teenage DIY jewelry.

In terms of goals for the year, we aim to scale the business by 10X in the current financial year. While e-commerce is the brand’s primary channel, international business is also on the rise, especially as the West looks to move on from pandemic after vaccinations. While Zariin sells through more than 150 stores worldwide currently, we look to double this number in the years to come.

All in all, Zariin is on its way to becoming the one-stop jewelry destination for global women. What attracts women to the brand is the freshness of the designs, which makes Zariin jewelry both, occasion agnostic and wearable, while at the same time affordable.