Blue Nile inspired Yaqsh.com is betting on the growing appetite for diamonds among Indians

Almost anything can be bought through clicks today and diamonds are no exception. Earlier where buying a diamond was as big a deal as owning one, now the shu sha behind the entire process has been cut short by eCommerce. However in case of diamonds, it is very important to know the real thing from shiny stones. There is always a doubt in mind even when diamonds are bought from a store, a trusted merchant or an online store.

Some new age thinking and new age tools has played a role in helping reduce the doubts connected to buying precious stones online. While Blue Nile was the first one to do it, there have since been new entrants into the space. Shubhankar Bhattacharya founded Yaqsh.com draws its inspiration from Blue Nile, but is using research, trends, cultural sentiments and giving value -- as differentiators to make diamond a mainstream purchase category in eCommerce in India. Shubhankar has done his engineering from NIT Trichy and has studied management from ISB Hyderabad.

Yaqsh is an online boutique that offers certified loose diamonds as well as luxury diamond jewellery in a variety of designs. “There is often a perception that physical diamond stores offer greater variety in designs than online stores. But as of day, we have over 55,000 diamonds listed on our site sourced from 100 vendors,” says Shubhankar. Apart from existing designs, customers can also opt for getting the stones made into customized jewellery. All they need to do is put a picture of the design, select a diamond, match it to the accessory they want and share some personal information. Once the order is fulfilled, the product is delivered to the customer’s door front.

Their business model enables them to offer diamonds and diamond jewellery at the best prices, and gives cost benefits of over 25-30% to the customer. While price advantage is an important selling point of the business, there is also a strong focus on achieving profitability, which Shubhankar understands is the only means to building a long-term successful business. “An average purchase of a diamond in a store is several magnitudes greater in value than a typical e-commerce transaction, but the price advantages we offer gives enormous value to our customers,” says Kshitiz Mittal, Director-Business Development at Yaqsh.com.

At Yaqsh, emphasis is laid on 4Cs(cut, clarity, color & carat) of diamonds and every purchase is accompanied by a certificate giving the buyer the assurance of quality. Yaqsh buys diamonds only from reputed diamond traders or manufacturers across the world. And also has certifications by the best certification institutions – GIA, IGI, AGS & HRD. The jewellery range is Hallmark (BIS) certified and designed by expert workmen. “All diamonds are laser inscribed from the respective certification agencies and comes with full guarantee for the genuine,” says Kshitiz .As Yaqsh directly purchases from the manufacturer, they are able to pass on the savings to the consumer as well. "A significant portion of customers may not be aware of a diamond’s specifications or what the different terms mean. But they always look for informed and educated help through their purchases. And that’s where we are different from other Indian counterparts; we educate our customers before any purchase in order to let them take an informed decision,” says Shubhankar.

The startup focuses on loose-diamonds and jewellery that requires specialized expertise with solitaire diamonds. Shubhankar is not worried about competition immediately as he says his focus right now is to develop trust with customers and become a reliable and trusted brand.

Offering an accessible and interactive shopping experience for customers is one of the steps Yaqsh has taken towards its building its brand. Customer satisfaction is also something they consider a must. Therefore Yaqsh offers 100% exchange or refund on the invoice value incase customer is not happy with the purchases, barring made to order jewellery.

To ally fears that customers may have while buying diamonds online, Shubhankar says they use the latest encryption technology to protect every online purchase. Yaqsh made its first sale in June this year and Shubhankar says there is a steady flow of transactions. As the site provides indepth information on diamonds and related stuff, a lot of people come to the site every day trying to educate themselves about diamonds, says Shubhankar. The portal has a seven member team working to take it mass. They are currently dependant on Google Adwords, Facebook ads, email marketing etc for spreading the word. Resources are also being channelized for SEO to give a boost to the organic traffic.

“We have set ourselves a few objectives before we consider bringing external investors in to Yaqsh. But currently we are backed by a promoter family that has considerable experience in owning and operating a successful jewellery business,” says Shubhankar. He is very bullish about their time of entering this market, which is currently worth Rs 500 crores. “We believe this market will soon see a disruptive spurt in growth and expand to over Rs. 3000 crores in annual revenues by 2016. It can therefore accommodate many more specialized retailers that can offer high quality diamonds at great value,” explains Shubhankar. To be better positioned to capture a share of this growing pie Yaqsh will use better technology, understand customers needs in a better manner, develop new ways of engaging with customers & suppliers, and offer new sales and delivery channels by combining both online and offline shopping experience.