"We Wanted to Show Consumers What Gourmet Products Really Mean,"Parvati Gianchandani, Yzury.com
When it comes to premium gourmet food, Indians seek a quality experience which is exclusive and goes beyond value-for-money. The rapid growth in urbanization, the rising income levels, the exposure to global culture and the growth of specialty restaurants are the key drivers of the Premium food market in India. The section of consumers seeking a luxury gourmet experience is growing very quickly and so far, high quality food is only available in 5 star hotels.
Strongly believing that the demand is higher than the supply and the market is evolving slowly, but by offering more imported products at very high prices rather than high quality foods at reasonable prices, Luxe Corporation in India decided to launch its retail branch www.yzury.com for all Indian consumers and Foodies. The Grand opening was on February, 6th, 2012 in Bangalore.
YourStory.in finds out more with Parvati Gianchandani, Founder, Luxe Corporation.
What prompted you to enter the B2C market when Luxe Corporation was already doing great in the B2B market?
After supplying the B2B market, principally the Hospitality market, for 2 years, with European Food & Beverages through Luxe Corporation in India, we noticed the lack of choice for consumers in supermarkets and even in specialized shops. We think that the consumer in India has the same right to have access to Gourmet products of high quality as does everyone else in the world! We also noticed the multiplication of retailers and e-retailers who used the word “gourmet” to qualify the quality of their products because they are imported and/or expensive. These retailers and e-retailers lie to the consumers. A Gourmet product is characterized by the use of high quality ingredients and authentic processing and usually caters to the connoisseur.
That’s the first reason why we decided to enter the B2C segment; to tell consumers what gourmet actually means. We decided to open our products directly to all Indian consumers with three main purposes - to give them the opportunity to taste new flavours with authentic products which directly come from international producers; to give them a better choice with a large range of products in the same family; and to widen the price range proposed to the consumer: Thus, we offer systematically, a first price very low to discover the product, several intermediary prices, and a high price for very high quality.
The ecommerce format is ideal for a gourmet shop project because it makes the product more accessible, both in terms of the variety of products available at the ease of ordering from home and also the number of people who can buy products irrespective of their geographical locations.
Is the COD service in-house or do you use third party services? What percentage of your customers use the COD payment mode?
All the customers pay in COD as only this service is available on the e-boutique. The COD service is in-house. We have divided Bangalore into 4 zones and hired 8 people to assure to the customer that he can be delivered very quickly whatever his area in Bangalore. Generally, when a customer orders in the morning, he’ll be delivered in the afternoon on the same day. If he orders in the afternoon, depending on the hour, he’ll be delivered on the same day in the evening or the day after in the morning. The most important thing for us is to assure a very good quality of service at any time for our customers.
What's the USP or differentiating factor of Yzury?
Thanks to our subsidiary in France, Luxe Corp France, we have a dedicated team of experts in Europe to select directly the products that our customers want. All our products come from small artisanal growers and producers which we select with lots of attention. We visit all the farm producers to see the manufacturing of the product from the beginning to the end and we taste all of the products before proposing them to consumers; thus, we can guarantee the good taste and the quality. Then, we import all the products through our own group, again to guarantee to the customers the management of the shipment and the freshness of the products.
We decided for the selection of our first range of products to, shop in the culinary capital, Paris, to offer a range of Gourmet products with rich flavors and vivid colors, most of them are new products in India. We have selected classic products as Chocolate, Cookies and Jams and more sophisticated products as Truffles, Candies, and flavoured Vinegar and Oil.We want to be transparent with our customers and show them how we have selected the product, where the product comes from, who manufactures the product and how to consume it.
What is the size of the market you are targeting?
Revolution is taking place across the nation and consumers want to have access to the best international cuisine. The range of gourmet foods has expanded over the last 5 years. There is no official estimation on Gourmet food market size in India, but we can foresee it around $16 billion with, according to our estimation, a CAGR of 25% each year.
From an economic point of view, the top three segments – globals, strivers and seekers, comprising around 40 million households in 2011, are existing and potential shoppers for Yzury.com. From a “Food Lover” point of view, we try to open the Gourmet market to whoever loves high quality products whatever his/her income. When you talk about Food, you talk about passion!
How are you generating revenue at present? Are you also looking at raising funds?
After 2 months, 50% of our clients are Indian and 50% Expatriates. For the sweet section, chocolates, cookies and teas constitute the best sellers head trio. We have just launch 2 days ago the return of the French cheese in Bangalore with 11 different references; it’s already a success!
We have launched Yzury.com with our own capital. We’ll go for funding with our future development is Asia.
Tell us something about the team behind Yzury.
From the General Manager to the delivery staff, via the marketing Director, the craftswomen who hand make the baskets or the people in charge of gift wrapping, everybody at Yzury feels they have a real mission: showing that they are proud to work in the delicatessen business to continue a tradition of authenticity, of refinement and elegance which characterizes Yzury.com.
Yzury specialists, with their international culture and expertise, select for our customers the best products all over the world. The Yzury Team which selects the products all over the world includes Mr. Lionel Falcoz, Mr. Olivier Canu and Mr. Alexandred’Hautefeuille.
Where do you see Yzury five years from now?
In the second semester of 2012, we’ll open products in Chennai and Hyderabad. Then in 2013, we’ll bring the products in Mumbai and Delhi. Yzury.com in the next five year needs to be strong in the tier one cities market before increasing its development in Asia. We want to become, in the next 5 years, the reference in India in term of Gourmet products and High Quality Food. After that, we’ll export the concept in others countries in Asia, mainly in Malaysia, Vietnam and others.
The business model of Yzury.com will remain online to be competitive when the 100% FDI in multi-brand will be open. However, in parallel with the online store, we prepare the launch of a showroom to give the possibility to the producers all over the world to expose their products in India.
Check out Yzury to know more and also WowDining and MADOrders for more food for thought!
Authors - Meghna Chhabria & Abhilasha Dafria
