In India, jewellery is considered a purchase for weddings and other

special occasions. Once the wedding is over, these lovely items spend
the majority of their time in lockers.

But, Modern  young woman wishes for contemporary jewellery that

can be worn daily from office outings to daily workwear.
Unfortunately, several old brands only make traditional jewellery for
special occasions.

That's when Saroja Yeramilli decided to fill this gap by starting  a

lightweight jewellery startup, Melorra.

Bengaluru-based Melorra offers everyday wear jewellery and offers a

wide range of options under Rs 50,000.

The company claims to be India's largest distributor of jewellery,

having delivered 1,700 towns in three years.

Every piece of jewellery they sell is custom-made after an order is

placed.

This leads to a huge reduction in carbon footprint and being

sustainable, plus saves them a lot of money.

With 75% of the brand's consumers under the age of 35 and

30% under the age of 25, younger women of this generation are
bound to be interested in gold Jewellery.

The team  hire from colleges as they realized that experienced

jewellery designers wouldn’t work well for their brand.

That’s something they have continued to do and with successful

results.
 On the manufacturing side, The company uses 3D printing facilities
only. For gold jewellery, the company uses casting, which makes it
lightweight and affordable.

The startup sends fashion experts to the cover of Paris and Milan
Fashion weeks for keeping an eye on global trends.

The startup claims to have clocked a revenue run rate of Rs 160
crore in 3.5 years and a 400% Y-o-Y growth in FY 2019. The
target is to meet breakeven by the fiscal year 2023

 Despite a rise in the price of gold and economic slowdown, the

demand for Melorra’s jewellery remains unchanged
 The young jewellery brand attributes this stability to design
differentiation and affordable pricing

 On the back of festive season, new technologies, and strong

marketing game on digital media, Melorra is aiming to become a ₹160
crore brand by the end of FY19 - 20
It was just on a casual visit to a jewellery store that Saroja Yeramilli, CEO
and Founder of Melorra, came up with the concept of launching light-
weight jewellery for young women. She overheard a conversation
between a mother, who was trying to persuade her daughter to buy
bulky jewellery, while the daughter was reluctant to buy something
that she could not wear every day. She identified this huge gap in the
kind of jewellery young women wanted and what traditional jewellers
were truly offering.

Melorra’s journey thus began in May 2016 with an aim to bridge this
gap and address the wardrobe mismatch. It was conceptualized as a
fashion-forward, real gold and diamond jewellery brand that styles for
the western wardrobe of modern women.
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Yeramilli takes pride in disrupting the market with a simple idea. “It
has been fulfilling to see that as a brand which focuses on designing
jewellery for the modern wardrobe, Melorra has been successful in
'unboring' and changing the perception about gold jewellery in the
country. More and more women are now looking at gold jewellery as
something trendy that can be worn with just about any everyday
outfit.”

Yeramilli says its designs reflect the global runway trends of Milan,
New York, Paris and London, and are in sync with the fashion seasons
— Spring Summer and Autumn Winter.

Unaffected by the Economic Slowdown

Despite a rise in the price of gold and economic slowdown, there hasn’t
been a decline in the demand for Melorra’s jewellery. Yeramilli
attributes this stability to ‘design differentiation and affordable
pricing.’

While traditional jewellery players in the market are not as excited for
the festive season this year, the preparations at Melorra are on full
swing. It has launched about seven Autumn-Winter 2019/20
collections and will be launching more collections in the weeks ahead.

Telling us how Melorra has managed to have a smooth ride in this

economic slowdown and festive plans, Yeramilli said, “About 70% of
our collections are priced below ₹30,000. This and the fact that we
offer attractive discounts to consumers makes Melorra a popular
choice. Apart from this, while festivals are synonymous with gold
jewellery in India, Melorra offers something ‘untraditional’ — gold that
can be matched with any every day outfit and become a part of a
woman’s wardrobe even before or after the festivities. We are looking
forward to an encouraging business season ahead. We are also
witnessing an increase in demand from not only the metros but also
really small villages that fall in Tier-5 and Tier-6 classification.”

Choice of Advertising Medium

Melorra’s growth story is built solely with the help of digital media. It’s
marketing monnies are 100% on digital advertising. It was drawn to
the medium as it allows you to navigate your own analysis, take
corrective action, with minimum budget requirements.

Telling us how digital media can help a start-up grow leaps and
bounds, Yeramilli said, “Given that our target audience consumes more
digital media than any other form of media, digital channels enable us
to be present where they are. Also, digital is one of the best mediums
that can give brands measurable ROI and immediate impact, be it on
YouTube or Facebook. Unlike in traditional media where a significant
budget is required to get an uptick, and in digital, you can start off and
see results with minimal spends too. Segmentation, personalized data
and diverse viewership are among the other reasons why digital is a
preferred media. With technology penetrating all aspects of marketing
today, brands must understand what drives action for consumers and
results for business.”

Investment in New Tech

Melorra has been investing in new technologies every year to increase

the efficiency of its non-inventory business model. The brand uses 3D
printing to provide an accurate and elegant finish online and now it is
also placing its money on Artificial Intelligence.
“Technology is one of the cornerstones of Melorra’s business. At
Melorra, we have invested in Computer Aided Design (CAD) and 3D
printing technology, enabling high precision and accuracy to execute
and convert computer sketches into virtual 3D models, which are then
rendered with real material input. Going forward, we are looking at
investing in technologies to enhance customer experience with AI-led,
voice-enabled and vernacular language-enabled shopping
experiences,” says Yeramilli.

Plan ahead

With an innovative positioning and business model, Yeramilli is

confident that in the next three years, Melorra will be ‘one of the
largest digital consumer brands’. Melorra has recorded a year-on-year
growth of 400% in FY 2019 and is expecting to grow 5X in revenue by
the end of FY 2020.

Yeramilli also shared her intentions of taking Melorra beyond India.

She believes that Melorra’s designs are globally relevant and have a
‘market wherever there are high street brands.’