Clusiv Brings a Gift Registry To Help You Choose Better

The father-child connection is something that is always special. Fathers make the best first heroes in every kid’s life. It was definitely the case with Antony Kattukaran. “I used to watch my dad leave home early in the morning and come back home late at night. There was something about the work he did – he seemed to love it. As kids we didn’t exactly know what he did but his passion and hard work fascinated me. He was an entrepreneur and growing up, that’s all I knew about his work,” shares Antony.

Antony definitely took to his father. He had the entrepreneurial itch from the beginning. But his father wanted to shield his son from the ups and downs of an entrepreneur’s life. So Antony went to the U.S. to do his Masters in Industrial Engineering and continued working there with a strategy consulting firm - Deloitte. But his desire to startup stayed with him. Finally surpassing his father’s protective attempts to keep him away from entrepreneurship, Antony moved back to India in 2011 to start Clusiv.in, a premium gift registry site."The concept of the gift registry is something that is extremely popular in the West. A gift registry allows the recipient, to share a ‘Nice to have’ list of gifts with close friends and family celebrating a special occasion, like a wedding, house warming, etc., etc. Information about the registry is usually found in the wedding invitation along with the name of the retail store to buy the gifts. This is an upfront and accepted social custom in the west,” explains Antony.

As for India, the exact same approach to this concept is currently not part of our culture and hence couples hesitate to share their ‘Nice to have’ gift list as it may seem rude to guests. But we tend to ask our close friends and family, what they would like as gifts when they celebrate such events. Hence the concept of the gift registry could become popular in India, if the marketing strategy is focused on the close friends and family who care about the kind of gift that they give. Once the customers purchase the gifts, Clusiv.in has them delivered to their house or anywhere that the customer wants in India.

There is a wide range of gift options starting from Rs.500 to Rs.29000 that are perceived as premium gift ideas targeting the middle and upper middle class in India. Their core competency is to give users options to buy premium quality gifts; hence the reduced focus on promoting flash sales or heavy discounting. The price of products at Clusiv.in is on par with any other site where the same products are found. Pooling in or going Dutch for a gift is a popular concept in India. Clusiv.in allows you to pool-in and buy a gift online, no matter where you are physically located. Recipients can also be assured that the built in privacy settings will not allow unauthorized access to your gift registry.

Although launched from Chennai in May 2012, Clusiv.in is working on increasing their brand and product portfolio with retailers across the country. They are encouraging the brands to share the story behind the product so that when people buy it or receive it as a gift, these gifts can also become conversation starters.

Clusiv is currently mentored by Ramraj, Founder (also the CEO of Sify till recently) while Mridula Sharma is their Strategic Advisor, Design. Clusiv.in is focused on offline marketing as part of its effort to build a brand. “We want to feature in select offline channels and build this concept in India,” explains Antony. They plan to have a strong online marketing presence, but not at the expense of selling at a loss driven by very high online customer acquisitions costs.

Clusiv.in is working towards becoming India’s no 1 premium gift registry in the next one year. They are currently in talks with several early stage investors both in India and abroad. We wish team Clusiv.in and Antony Kattukaran all the very best.

Want to start a registry for a friend’s birthday or wedding? Check out www.Clusiv.in