Palmonas, an 18k gold-plated jewellery brand that offers fine (silver base) and demi-fine (stainless steel base) collections, is planning to introduce 9k and 12k gold-plated jewellery in the next three months.
The brand was launched in 2022 and claims to have clocked Rs.6 cr in its first year of operations. It is also eyeing a share of global markets like the US and UK, which are more familiar with demi-fine jewellery.
“When we launched this brand, we had a global vision. That’s how we have designed our entire aesthetics of the website as well. Demi-fine as a category is already very huge in the West, so we definitely want to go global. We started testing waters in India first and now we have a proof of concept as we have seen success in the Indian market. We are gonna start scaling globally across, especially in the US and UK. Next thing we are gonna introduce as a category is 9k and 12k gold for daily wear like studs and solitaire necklaces. You will see the 9k and 12k collections in the next three months on Palmonas,” said Pallavi Mohadikar, Co-founder and CEO, Palmonas.
The brand claims a 20 pc repeat purchase rate and less than 2 pc returns.
“In our first year of operations, we closed at almost 6 cr. We are hoping to at least double down on it. A digital-first brand, the majority of our sales happen online. 70 to 75 pc of our sales happens from our website and 20 pc from marketplaces. We are present on all premium marketplaces like Myntra and Nykaa and we are getting listed on Tata Cliq now. The remaining 5 pc sales comes from our flagship store in Pune. We are planning to open 10 stores this year across all metro cities,” added Mohadikar.
Palmonas has a range of categories from necklaces, rings and earrings to bracelets, mangalsutras and men’s jewellery.
“We make very modern mangalsutras which are fit for women working in the corporate sector or who like to wear minimalistic jewellery every day. Mangalsutra is one of our best selling categories and after that, necklaces. We have a very high repeat purchase rate for necklace as a category. We give a one-year warranty on all our jewellery, so anything happens to it in one year, we take care of it,” she explained.
The brand has collaborated with celebrities including Ananya Pandey and Deepika Padukone.
Mohadikar elaborated, “We are majorly marketing to metro cities and that is why naturally the majority of our sales (70 to 80 pc) is coming from metro cities. Around 20 pc is from tier-2 cities as well. We are very heavy on digital and follow a 360-degree approach. We do radio medium selectively but on digital we are present everywhere. At the same time, we are focusing a lot on influencer marketing because demi-fine jewellery is a new age thing. We actually call it new-age gold. Gen-Z and millennials who do not really want to invest a huge amount of money on gold jewellery. They actually consume the jewellery as an accessory, so we are targeting that age group right now and I think the best way to reach them and influence them is through influencers.”
During a conversation over coffee with her husband, Dr. Amol Patwari, Mohadikar figured that there is a very huge void in between expensive gold and fine jewellery and cheap imitation jewellery and that is how Palmonas was born.
“There is nothing in between that is as good in terms of quality and finish as fine jewellery, that’s where we introduced demi-fine as a category in India. This category is very huge in the USA and UK where people only wear demi-fine. But, in India, demi-fine jewellery is still in its nascent stage and Palmonas launched this category in India. We use neutral base metals like surgical stainless steel and 925 sterling silver and we plate those metals with a really thick layer of gold which is almost 2.5 microns thick. Now, this layer is so thick that you actually get a very similar finish to pure gold. Also, this jewellery becomes very long lasting because of the very high thickness so you can use it literally everyday even in showers. Basically, it behaves like pure gold jewellery and you can just wear it and forget about it and nothing happens to it,” she added.
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