Imagine, create and wear a new style everyday. De Lemon’s do-it-yourself bead kits enable customers to create jewelry, matching their own taste, dress and style
Sure, there is nothing novel about launching your own jewelry store.
Particularly, with a number of fashion accessory stores mushrooming in the country, chances are yours might even get lost in the cluster. But De Lemon, a beads jewelry store recently launched in Noida, is taking no such chances. Enabling the customers to play up on both, styles as well creativity, the store attracts not only teenagers and adults, but also children towards its jewelry.
So, what is their USP? Just reflect back on the number of times you have entered an accessory store and didn’t buy something because you liked the color, but not the design or vice versa. Well, with the induction of do-it-yourself bead kits, De Lemon has the answer to all your fashion woes. Housed in an especially dedicated corner of the store, these kits give the consumers the liberty to pick their own choice of beads and design their own set of jewelry. The customers that do not trust their creative instincts need not fret. The store’s attendants are more than willing to suggest designs and show you how it’s done.
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An Assortment of Beads
The do-it-yourself kits make one-third of the De Lemon store, the other two-thirds accounting for loose beads and jewelry. The kits come in ten different sizes, ranging from Rs 99 to Rs 1999, giving the customers the luxury to pick according to how much jewelry they want to make, and the variety that they are seeking in the bead designs. They are also color-coded, so depending on the color desired, a variety of hues of that color are available within the kits.
Besides the beads, each kit contains a fish hook, eye pin, bolt ring, latching hook, patch hook and a nylon thread that are required to make the jewelry. The bead kits come in the shape of flowers, hearts, stars and bags that especially attract children. Says M K Nair, manager of De Lemon, “Our customers have especially liked the packaging of these beads, and constantly give us feedback on how attractive and useful the kits are even to store other items.”
Those who are extra creative or do not want to be limited to one shade of color and design, can take their pick from loose assorted beads placed in bowls. De Lemon’s collection includes more than 300 different shapes, 100 colors and around 2000 different designs of beads. The beads’ material ranges from glass, bone, shell, horn, mother of pearl, silver, terracotta, wood, ceramic, chevron, brass and white metal.
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De Lemon also has provisions to custom-make bead designs according to the customer’s preference. “We recently got an order from a wildlife organization, asking us to make beads in animal prints like tiger, giraffe, leopard and zebra for promotional purposes,” says Nair.
| DARE/the big idea |
| Sector: Jewelry |
| Big idea: Do-it-yourself kits for customers to make their own jewelry |
| Clientele: 70% teenagers, children (five years and above), adults |
| Cost of kit: Rs 99 to Rs 1999 |
| Brand: De Lemon |
| Parent company: Banaras Beads |
Entering the Domestic Market
De Lemon is the brand name of Banaras Beads Limited (BBL), a company established in 1940 in Varanasi, which deals in manufacturing and exporting beads and glass jewelry to retail showrooms like Target, Wal-Mart, Cosco and Micheals.
After the tremendous success of BBL jewelry and especially the do-it-yourself kits in the international market, Ashok Kumar Gupta, the chairman and managing director of BBL, decided to test the product with the Indian audience. “He showcased the kits in his friends’ parties, birthdays, marriages, etc and soon enough enquiries started pouring in. That is when we decided to open a flagship store in India,” says Nair.
Planning the Big Launch
Before the launch, a market survey was conducted to find out some of the key concerns that needed to be addressed. The survey conveyed that presentation of the product was extremely important to the consumer. “Due to this, we not only decided to update our jewelry designs every ten days, we also decided that continuous interaction with customers was absolutely necessary. This would help us in updating our jewelry and incorporating customers’ demands in our product range.” Another key concern was of pricing. With jewelry costing as low as Rs 19, it was ensured that it is affordable to all.
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“Customers also asked us, how we would fare in comparison with bead kits coming in from China. They are more like toy kits for the children. But that is hardly a competition for us. Our jewelry can be worn by people of all ages and its quality standards are approved by Wal-Mart,” says Nair.
The do-it-yourself kits have been so successful that BBL is expecting Rs 5 lac worth of sales in A-class cities and Rs 3 lac and Rs 2 lac sales in B- and C-class cities, in the first six months. They are planning to open 100 more showrooms in Delhi NCR, Bangalore, Pune, Chandigarh, Hyderabad, Kerala and Srinagar, in the next three years. Besides this, they are also looking to have a presence in retail outlets such as Pantaloons and Shoppers Stop. Plans to open showrooms in the international market, especially in the Middle East are also underway.
Glance at Future Innovations
Being a 2000-year-old tradition, there is nothing new about being in the business of bead making. But BBL believes in doing small things in order to stand apart. As said by Nair, “Soon we will be conducting jewelry making competitions amongst school children in the Delhi NCR region. They will all be given a bead kit and the ones that come up with the most creative designs will be given prizes.” They will also be using their enormous collection of colored beads to teach nursery children about colors. “It will be something along the lines of an abacus, where slots would be assigned for specific colors, and the children will have to place beads of that color in the assigned slot,”says Nair.
Their future plans also include using beads to make colorful corporate gifts such as paper weights.
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