Just like everything else, online shopping has its takers and naysayers, and pros and cons. However, the onset of Covid-19 has certainly changed the dimension of the eCommerce industry. According to a recent survey, Covid-19 led 68% of Indians to increase their online shopping.
E-commerce is thriving
While offline business continues to take a hit due to the nature of Covid-19, the e-commerce industry has thrived significantly after the lockdown was lifted last year. A major point being the shifts of the customers from the offline channels towards the online route. Giva, an online store for hallmarked jewellery that was launched in April 2019 is one such example.
Covid-19 impacted their business in the early months of lockdown because of the delivery restrictions. However, once the lockdown ended, Giva was able to quickly bounce back and has seen rapid growth driven by customer sentiment favoring online shopping.
“We were able to bounce back quickly post Covid-19 restrictions were lifted. We were able to get back to pre-covid levels in just 1.5 months and have been continuously scaling up from those levels,” said Ishendra Agarwal, Founder & CEO, Giva.
“Two major things which helped us during this time were increased prices of gold and reduced intent to go outside for shopping,’ he further added.
Giva aims to create a niche segment of silver jewellery in the organized sector
In the last few years, there has been a spurt of silver jewelry brands in the Indian market. Aggarwal says there are two main drivers for this consumer shift towards silver. He says, “It is precious yet affordable and the metal is well within everyone’s reach (financially).”
According to a recent report by The New Indian Express, the demand for silver is poised to outplace gold.
Covid-19 is another important reason why consumers are increasingly putting their money on silver over Gold. “It (Gold) has always been a luxurious expense. The pandemic is creating a sizeable amount of impact on the economy and has led to a tremendous decrease in spending power of the consumers where people have shifted their focus on spending on the actual needs rather than focusing on luxurious expenses,” adds Aggarwal.
Giva, in a short span of time, has managed to create goodwill for itself in a competitive marketplace by focusing on shipping 99.5% products within 24hrs of order confirmation and 30-day no-question asked return, free shipping. It has manufacturing partners across 5 countries to ensure fresh designs with the highest quality assurance and aims to fulfill the demand and supply of silver jewelry.
Phenomenal growth in last 6 months
Since starting operations in June 2019, the company has grown rapidly. Growth has been especially phenomenal over the last 6 months, with revenues having grown ~4.5x compared to pre-COVID levels. The majority of revenues are from the company’s websites, with marketplace presence contributing only to ~15%. The company has always aimed at maintaining capital efficiency and is currently breakeven.
What’s next?
Giva will soon be launching personalized jewellery and men’s collection, which is a popular demand from our customers.
