Published
Mar 16, 2022
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Bluestone raises $30 million funding, focuses on omni-channel growth

Published
Mar 16, 2022

Jewellery retail business Bluestone has raised more than $30 million from Hero Enterprises at a valuation of $410 million as it focuses on omni-channel expansion. 

BlueStone retails a range of gold and diamond jewellery - BlueStone- Facebook


The funding round is the first time the business has raised money since 2016, ET Bureau reported. The business plans to use the investment to continue to transform its business and retail strategy from purely e-commerce to an omni-channel approach which will include both online and brick-and-mortar retail expansion. 
 
“One big realisation we had especially after that [2016] round was that online-only was not going to make us a very big company given the nature of the category and consumers’ preference of using both online and offline modes,” said Bluestone’s founder Gaurav Singh Kushwaha, ET Tech reported.

“So the obvious thing for us to transform to an omni-channel game from a purely online game. That’s what we were busy doing for the past three to four years.”
 
The business sees 90% of its sales originate online, according to Kushwaha, but 65% of its sales are converted to offline. This means that the majority of the business’ customers begin by browsing products online then travel to a brick-and-mortar outlet to try and buy. 

“Omnichannel has played out well not just for us but also for other players like Lenskart and Nykaa,” said Kushwaha. “I admit we were a bit late but we are trying to catch up as quickly as possible. In general it is working out very well for us and we noticed very strong omni-channel behaviour, especially in our category.”
 
Bluestone is eyeing over Rs 2,000 crore in annual revenue in the coming two years. The business currently has a total of 70 stores in over 20 cities and aims to reach a total of 300 stores by 2024. 

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