Founders – Mrs. Supriya Sampath and Mr.Sampath Raj
Website – Ketan diamonds
“I have never hated a man enough to give him his diamonds back.”
These are some famous words from the then-sensation Zsa Zsa Gábor. Maybe that was meant in goodwill, maybe not, but the love for real diamonds in most women’s as well as some men’s eyes and heart is inevitable. They say diamonds are a girl’s best friend, and that’s a fact!
Diamonds are unquestionably a sign of royalty, luxury, an investment for some, but most importantly a symbol of eternal love.
Of course, the value of a diamond can’t be paralleled with the amount of emotions of the giver, but the literal market value can be calculated based on the quality & size of the diamond.
People can surely measure the size of the diamonds, but it takes a better eye to see the quality of a diamond. And, in this article, we are going to talk of one such eye and her venture.
Ketan Diamonds is the startup we are discussing today. Today’s is yet another story of a homemaker turned entrepreneur.
Ketan Diamonds:
Named after today’s founder/entrepreneur’s son, Ketan Diamonds is an online division of Banglore-based ‘Rushab Jewellers’. Ketan, in a more traditional sense, means ‘pure gold’. Moreover, “purity” is the foundation of the venture we are discussing.
Didn’t quite understand, right? Well, let me tell you about the story behind the foundation and the founder.
The Backstory:
Mrs. Supriya Sampath is the founder and the CEO of Ketan diamonds, a 2018-founded online division of the since-1994 ‘Rushabh Jewellers’. She is a housemaker-turned-entrepreneur behind the vision and underlying philosophy of providing the 3 P’s- Purity, Perfection, and Precision.
Married at a very young age of 20, Mrs. Supriya, from a business family,studied in the commerce stream, meaning business genes, as well as the accounting knowledge, has been in her since her very existence. After marriage, she started assisting her husband, Mr. Sampath, with his jewelry-cum-gold shop. A few years later, her fondness for diamond became a new verticle for the only-gold-selling Rushabh Jewelers.
A girl’s dream turned fondness had now turned to a passion and a matter of interest. She started gaining knowledge until she mastered the 4C’s of Diamond(Cut, Color, Clarity, and Carat).
Along the way, she found out that diamond merchants were taking unfair advantage of customer’s ignorance. And as they say, ignorance sometimes isn’t bliss. She quickly understood that a business could be profitable by playing fair as well, and that was a USP of her new venture: “Ketan Diamonds”.
Final Words:
With that USP and an edge due to the online presence, Ketan Diamonds has been a huge success and a talk in the town. The future of the business seems as bright as a diamond.
The venture’s efforts of finding an investor might as well turn the revenue from 25 cr. to 100 cr.
Until that day comes, let’s end this short startup story of fondness to passion, housemaker to entrepreneur, and much more with a related yet unrelated quote.
“It’s hard to be a diamond in the world of rhinestone.”
What made you strike this business idea? What inspired you to start this company?
Ketan Diamonds – Mr. and Mrs. Supriya Sampath are the two visionaries behind Ketan Diamonds.After over a decade of work in diamond business, they felt it’s important to keep pace with the changing times and brought up the idea of starting an e-commerce jewellery store to cater to the internet savvy jewellery buyers of today’s digital era. They intention behind the venture was to provide a platform for people to buy diamond jewellery with trust and also share their knowledge and experiences about diamonds. This was the idea and story behind the formation of “Ketan Diamonds”.
When did you start your business?
Ketan Diamonds – We founded the company in April 2018, Our operations went live in October 2018.
What does success mean to your company?
Ketan Diamonds – The opportunity in the jewellery market is massive, and over 80 per cent of it is still unorganised. We want to build a strong brand with Ketan Diamonds and bridge the gap in the market and reinvent the shopping experience, apart from presence in Metro cities we want to penetrate the tier-2 cities as well, which is still untapped. Our vision is to become the leading online jewellery store in India and to get top of the mind brand recall.
How are you performing currently?
Ketan Diamonds – The company already has fast growing customer base. At present the company has offices in Mumbai and Bangalore with delivery reachability across India. We will soon be starting our try at home service across the country for our customer to have a look and feel of the product before placing an order. We will be adding another 3000 jewellery
designs to our existing collection of 1000 Plus designs. We already have a healthy customer base and six corporate tie-ups.
What is the biggest risk to your company?
Ketan Diamonds – Most challenging part was to kick start the project, we looks easier as a concept on paper but when it comes to executing the concept practically, it gets quite difficult and once we start we have to keep up the momentum of growth. Also, finding the right resources is very challenging.
Definitely the biggest challenge was the huge number of pre existing competitors in the industry and many of them have been early entrants in the market. However, we clearly have a major differentiating factor, that is our pricing and our buy back policy which is far better and transparent from others in the industry.Our customers and corporate partners trust us on quality and pricing and thats giving us motivation to do well.
What are your plans on funding?
Ketan Diamonds – We have not yet raised any funding, currently we are functioning bootstrapped. At present, we are looking for funding.
What is the biggest challenge you faced during your start-up setup?
Ketan Diamonds – There are so many challenges we had analysed like consumer purchase behaviour, market trends, suppliers, banks, government support agencies, introducing new trends and designs, adequate marketing and promotions,etc. However, we overcame all the challenges with meticulous planning and strategy and kept working with immense focus. Though the key threats are fierce price competition by competitors and working towards attaining the trust from customers with constant brand building efforts.
What does growth mean to you and your business?
Ketan Diamonds – Our intention behind this venture was to provide a platform to people to buy gold &diamond jewellery with trust and also share their knowledge and experiences about diamonds.With an underlying philosophy of 3P’s – Pure, Perfect and precious Ketan Diamonds, envisions to be one of the leading and most trusted online diamond jewellery portal in the country.
How does your product stand different from others in the market?
Ketan Diamonds – Our Unique Selling Point is our ‘Quality’ and ‘Pricing’. We clearly have a major differentiating factor, that is our pricing and our buy back policy which is far better and transparent from others in the industry.
We are confident that with its unique proposition and the eternal purity of diamonds, Ketan diamonds will outshine others and will make it stand out in the market.
Where are your start-up services spread?
Ketan Diamonds – Our venture resolves the struggle of buying good quality, unique and hi-end diamond jewellery by offering wide range of designer and customised jewellery at an affordable price along with EMI option. We offer nearly 2,500 designs of gold and diamond jewellery at our website. In terms of services we provide old jewellery exchange as well as jewellery cleaning service at door step.
What does it feel to be the founder of your start-up? How does it feel getting up every morning and getting on to work?
Ketan Diamonds – It has been enriching experience being anentrepreneur, everyday there is a new learning.
It has not affected my family and social life as my family and friends do know how much I value them, they have been extremely supportive of my decision and encouraging me to do better work. I feel focused, more optimistic and motivate to achieve our goals.
Where do you see your business standing in the next 5 years?
Ketan Diamonds – We are working with targeted growth plans for the next 5 years – We plan to create 30 cities presence with physical offices in 6 metro cities and add another 3000 jewellery designs to our existing 1000 plus design collection. In terms of team size, we will add close to 80 people more. We have already started with customer support helpline and live chatservices for better connectivity with customers.
We plan to bring our ‘try at home service’ across 30 cities in the country. We want to be the fastest online jewellery provider and would launch the next day delivery (within 48 hours) provision for customers, starting with launching it for metro cities and expanding the option to tier-2 cities. The team is passionate about the business and is working very hard with a focused determination to achieve its vision to become the leading online jewellery store in India and to get top of the mind brand recall.
Is there anything new or any latest activity which you would like to share.
Ketan Diamonds – Yes, this month we are launching our vacation inspired jewellery ‘Glam Voyage’.
Now that summer holidays have already started and most of the women are travelling around with kids, this jewellery collection is designed especially to help them travel light and yet look fashionable.