Shricharran Rangarajan: Upping The Jewellery Game With Modern Mindset & Curiosity
Shricharran Rangarajan
Founder & CEO
As he worked closely with his family business for a couple of years, he understands the market and standards of quality assurance. By clubbing his exposure, experience, and educational learnings, Shricharran was instrumental in taking the business completely digital and global. Under his aegis, the company offers the finest ornaments with a stunning array of fascinating designs and unmatchable after-sales service in the e-Commerce space and at their retail stores at Dindigul, Chennai and Madurai. In an exclusive interview with CEO Insights, Shricharran talks more about his professional journey and the unique business operations of SVTM.
Walk us through your professional journey. Give a brief of your evolution as a business leader.
While I was still pursuing my engineering in 2013, I was taking up small tasks at our jewel brand. Back then, when my father went to the US for a business deal, he was questioned if we had a website. That was the turning point of our business. Based out of a tier-III city, we had a profitable offline retail business, but we were not much into digital. Intrigued in technology and automation, I took that as an opportunity and built an appealing e-Commerce website for our brand.
Embracing digitization to our eight
decades old successful venture, we have an unparalleled advantage of bringing the best traditional and antique designs for global customers. Today, people of different countries can browse more than 10,000 South Indian Traditional jewelry at our website and get the jewels shipped to their doorstep Worldwide.
What were the challenges you had to over-come to be the individual you have become today? What is your business mantra?
Although being an introvert is no barrier to entrepreneurship, I did face certain challenges due to my introverted nature. My post-graduation in family business administration helped me become bold.
Speaking of the business mantra, it is a shared mission that we have been carrying forward through generations. Apart from this, it is important to be consistent and work towards a long-term goal.
Define SVTM as an organization, and where is it positioned in the current industry?
Our business was established with the name Vasavi Jewellery Mart by my great grandfather in the year 1942. It was a humble beginning in a 400 square feet space. Today, Sri Vasavi Thangamaaligai is backed by a rich heritage of over 80 years. It is our foresight and shared spirit of enterprise that has built the firm into a premium jewelry showroom. My family saw the advantages of large-format retailing of gold jewelry in Dindigul and visualized a first-class, spacious, modern jewelry unit, the first of its kind in the district.
At present, we have grown into a brand with 250+ associates and two spacious stores in Dindigul and Madurai. People usually believe that good quality products are available only in tier-I cities. We are persistently working towards breaking this myth. With our e-Commerce platform, people from metro cities are reaching us to purchase finely crafted gold, silver, diamond, and platinum jewelry.
Our growth has been great with the launch of Sri Vasavi's THE AMETHYST STORE in 2018. We analyzed the elegant & bold finish of
What were the challenges you had to over-come to be the individual you have become today? What is your business mantra?
Although being an introvert is no barrier to entrepreneurship, I did face certain challenges due to my introverted nature. My post-graduation in family business administration helped me become bold.
As a leader, Shricharran imparts honestly and an Humble nature to be a market leader in the country's gems and jewelry industry
Speaking of the business mantra, it is a shared mission that we have been carrying forward through generations. Apart from this, it is important to be consistent and work towards a long-term goal.
Define SVTM as an organization, and where is it positioned in the current industry?
Our business was established with the name Vasavi Jewellery Mart by my great grandfather in the year 1942. It was a humble beginning in a 400 square feet space. Today, Sri Vasavi Thangamaaligai is backed by a rich heritage of over 80 years. It is our foresight and shared spirit of enterprise that has built the firm into a premium jewelry showroom. My family saw the advantages of large-format retailing of gold jewelry in Dindigul and visualized a first-class, spacious, modern jewelry unit, the first of its kind in the district.
At present, we have grown into a brand with 250+ associates and two spacious stores in Dindigul and Madurai. People usually believe that good quality products are available only in tier-I cities. We are persistently working towards breaking this myth. With our e-Commerce platform, people from metro cities are reaching us to purchase finely crafted gold, silver, diamond, and platinum jewelry.
Our growth has been great with the launch of Sri Vasavi's THE AMETHYST STORE in 2018. We analyzed the elegant & bold finish of
jewellery in the silver base, and thus decided to launch a Sub-brand that sells 92.5 Silver jewellery. With over 20,000 plus designs and a customer base from across the world, we observed 10x growth in just three years. This apart, we have set up our flagship store in Chennai. The brand has continuously won Silver jewellery of the year award from National Jewellers Association.
How has the company been ensuring to emerge as the top preference among customers? Enlist the milestones achieved so far.
We at SVTM believe that investing in employees means investing in growth. If we keep our employees happy, they will keep the customers happy. It will ultimately make us the preferred destination for jewelry shopping. We don't call them employees but associates, and we strongly look at them as the core strength of our brand. Only in few professions people associate the profession with family (i.e Family doctor, Family Lawyer). Likewise, we make sure to impart an exceptional customer-centric approach and make customers feel that Sri Vasavi is their Family Jeweler.
In terms of milestones, being the first one to start an eCommerce model in atier-III city was the initial step of our achievement. With a strong digital presence, we receive more than 10 million impressions on Pinterest every month. Also, our brand Amethyst scaled 5 times in the very first year of the operation and holds an 8 percent market share in Tamil Nadu.
Shricharran Rangarajan, Founder & CEO, Sri Vasavi Thangamaaligai
A seasoned Business Development Professional with an Engineering and Management Degree in Marketing of Luxury Goods in Offline Stores and e-Commerce plat-forms, Shricharran combines curiosity to learn with his passion for his family business and the jewelry trade. Besides taking an active interest in day-to-day operations, he has been responsible for introducing and developing the e-Commerce site and online shopping endeavor for Sri Vasavi & The Amethyst Store.
His eye for data & strategy gives him the power to enhance brand aware-ness & discoverability across various social platforms. Shricharran loves adapting technology & best practices of retail into the business for seamless growth and operation. His most Favorite Books are Corporate Chanakya by Radhakrishnan Pillai, Sam Walton-Made in America, and The Everything store, Why we buy?, How to win friends & Influence people.
How has the company been ensuring to emerge as the top preference among customers? Enlist the milestones achieved so far.
We at SVTM believe that investing in employees means investing in growth. If we keep our employees happy, they will keep the customers happy. It will ultimately make us the preferred destination for jewelry shopping. We don't call them employees but associates, and we strongly look at them as the core strength of our brand. Only in few professions people associate the profession with family (i.e Family doctor, Family Lawyer). Likewise, we make sure to impart an exceptional customer-centric approach and make customers feel that Sri Vasavi is their Family Jeweler.
In terms of milestones, being the first one to start an eCommerce model in atier-III city was the initial step of our achievement. With a strong digital presence, we receive more than 10 million impressions on Pinterest every month. Also, our brand Amethyst scaled 5 times in the very first year of the operation and holds an 8 percent market share in Tamil Nadu.
Shricharran Rangarajan, Founder & CEO, Sri Vasavi Thangamaaligai
A seasoned Business Development Professional with an Engineering and Management Degree in Marketing of Luxury Goods in Offline Stores and e-Commerce plat-forms, Shricharran combines curiosity to learn with his passion for his family business and the jewelry trade. Besides taking an active interest in day-to-day operations, he has been responsible for introducing and developing the e-Commerce site and online shopping endeavor for Sri Vasavi & The Amethyst Store.
His eye for data & strategy gives him the power to enhance brand aware-ness & discoverability across various social platforms. Shricharran loves adapting technology & best practices of retail into the business for seamless growth and operation. His most Favorite Books are Corporate Chanakya by Radhakrishnan Pillai, Sam Walton-Made in America, and The Everything store, Why we buy?, How to win friends & Influence people.