Brands
Candere buy to help Kalyan Jewellers add 5-7% to its topline
MUMBAI: Kalyan Jewellers, one of India’s trusted and leading jewellery brands, announced the acquisition of online jewellery firm Candere. The acquisition will augment Kalyan Jewellers presence in the growing online jewellery segment in India.
Kalyan will acquire the equity held by Singularity Strategic, the family office of Brijesh Chandwani and Subram Kapoor. This is Kalyan Jeweller’s first strategic move of its kind as the company continues to pursue aggressive growth plans, both organically and inorganically.
Established in 2013, Candere sells jewellery online in India, USA and UK. It has a portfolio of over 4,000 designs including a strong offering in the high growth diamond jewellery segment. This transaction will help Kalyan establish a strong presence in the ecommerce segment to complement its vast physical retail presence.
Following the acquisition, Candere will be “powered by Kalyan Jewellers” as it continues to build resonance with existing and potential online jewellery shoppers. Kalyan Jewellers will significantly boost Candere’s customer offerings by virtue of its depth of merchandise, which caters to different market segments and customer tastes.
Post Investment, Kalyan plans to launch some of its established sub-brands like Glo, Antara, Anokhi, Nimah, through the Candere online store. Through this investment, Kalyan will also be able to expand Candere’s geography into the growing West Asian market including UAE, Kuwait and Qatar thus augmenting Candere’s existing coverage.
Kalyan will leverage its vast network of 105 showrooms and distributed supply chain across India and West Asia to enhance Candere’s fulfillment layer and work towards creating a robust online-offline hybrid customer experience.
Kalyan Jewellers executive director Rajesh Kalyanaraman said, “Candere’s recent foray into UK and USA markets also helps Kalyan augment its ambition of becoming a global Indian brand. Both companies have strong design and manufacturing capabilities and the synergies therein will help strengthen our offering to existing as well as new customers. The integrated offline and online offering will provide customers more flexibility and convenience while enhancing their shopping experience.”
“We believe that the online jewellery market offers tremendous growth potential and expect it to contribute 5-7% of our topline over the next five years. The acquisition will also accelerate contribution of our global revenues.’’
Founder-promoter Rupesh Jain said, “Kalyan is a formidable jewellery brand and Candere will be able to scale up rapidly by using Kalyan’s strong supply chain network and physical presence. The integration will also provide up selling and cross-selling opportunities and bolster revenues.’’
Brands
Uber launches hotel bookings feature in partnership with Expedia
From hotel bookings to room service at your door, the ride-hailing giant is making its boldest push yet into everyday life
CALIFORNIA: Uber is done being just a taxi app. At its annual GO-GET product event, the world’s leading mobility and delivery platform unveiled a sweeping set of new features designed to plant itself at the centre of how people travel, eat and shop, hotel bookings included.
The headline move is a partnership with Expedia Group that lets Uber users in the United States book hotels directly within the Uber app, with access to a catalogue that will eventually grow to more than 700,000 properties worldwide. Uber One members get 10 per cent back in Uber One credits on all hotel bookings and savings of at least 20 per cent on a rolling list of more than 10,000 hotels globally. Vacation rentals from Vrbo, Expedia Group’s home-rental brand, will be added later this year. The partnership is expected to expand beyond the United States. From June, Uber rides will also be integrated directly into the Expedia app, with push notifications sent to travellers ahead of hotel check-in to book discounted Uber rides for the duration of their stay.
Dara Khosrowshahi, chief executive of Uber, framed the expansion in terms of the modern condition. “Uber is becoming an app for everything, helping people go, get, and now travel all in one place,” he said. “We’re all living through a moment of real cognitive overload: too many apps, too many decisions, too much noise. At the end of the day, our job is to help people reclaim their time, spending less of it managing the logistics of life and more of it actually living.”
Ariane Gorin, chief executive of Expedia Group, struck a similarly ambitious note. “Travel should feel effortless, and this partnership gets us one step closer to offering a seamless traveller experience,” she said. “By connecting our two-sided marketplace with Uber, we’re bringing Uber rides directly into the Expedia app and Expedia Group’s lodging inventory into the Uber app through our Rapid API technology. Together, we’re helping travellers spend less time planning and more time enjoying the journey.”
Beyond hotels, the product announcements come thick and fast. Travel Mode, available within both the Uber and Uber Eats apps, offers curated recommendations on local favourites, tourist destinations, OpenTable restaurant reservations and on-demand delivery to hotel rooms. Uber One International means the membership programme now works globally, allowing members to earn credits on rides abroad that can be redeemed once back home. A new Shop for Me feature lets users request items from any store, even those not listed on the app. Eats for the Way allows riders in select cities booking an Uber Black or Uber Black SUV to have a drink or snack waiting for them in the car. Voice Bookings, powered by artificial intelligence, lets users book a ride conversationally, without touching their phone. And a redesigned One Search bar consolidates results for places, food and items across the entire Uber platform in a single query.
Uber has now logged more than 72 billion trips since it launched in 2010. The question it is now answering is what comes after the ride. The answer, apparently, is everything else. Whether users want a hotel in Paris, a coffee in the back of a car or a snake plant from the local garden centre, Uber would very much like to be the one to provide it. The app economy’s land grab has a new front-runner.
NOTE: The image used is AI generated and only for representational purposes.
