Fashion jewellery brand Voylla opens first outlet in Kolkata

Conceived and conceptualised by Vishwas Shringi, an IIT alumnus, the brand graduated from the virtual marketplace to being in stores.

Voylla started in 2012 and opened its first store in 2016, earlier this year. It now boasts of 68 outlets and plans to have a hundred by the end of this year.

Shringi, a previous Amazon employee, managed one-fourth of its business in North America before setting up his own company.

Speaking exclusively to IBNS, Shringi said, "When I moved to India in 2011, fashion jewellery captured my eye because it was growing at a very fast rate, yet there was no concept of brands. More importantly, there was no unified channel where people could buy all sorts of jewellery. 

The urge to deliver design oriented, traditional yet affordable jewellery fueled his dreams, Shringi adds.

Asked why it took him 66 stores and a good part of an year to move to the east, Shringi, the founder and CEO, said, "In hindsight, if you ask me today where would I open the first store, I would say Kolkata. The malls here are always full of people. But why we didn't start in Kolkata is purely from the operational side."

"We piloted our first store in NCR. We wanted to learn all about the trade while concentrating in one region and then move to another, so basically that was the idea," he adds.

Asked about his brand's USP, Shringi said, "It's an unisex brand. We have something for everyone, even the kids."

"I want every women in Kolkata to possess at least one Voylla piece. We also have the kadas, studs, cufflink and other accessories for the men," he adds.

Speaking on the rising trend in Men's jewellery, Shringi said that the idea has certainly picked up pace as men now believe in decking themselves and have moved on from wearing a ring occasionally.

"There is less inhibitions among males these days in terms of wearing jewellery. The stud is the most sold piece, while we see many sporting kadas, cufflink, bracelets. We cater to these emerging trends," he said.

Asked about his developmental plan, Shringi said that though Kolkata was not in his immediate plan, it was peer-pressure that lead him into opening a store here and now he plans to open a store in every mall of the city.

"A lot of friends from Kolkata started calling up. They wanted us to capture the pujo market. Now that we are here, I want Voylla to feature in every mall, be it a Lake Mall or an E-Mall or something bigger as the South City Mall."

"I also have Siliguri and Agartala in my plans," he added.

Asked how Voylla happened, tracing back the roots, Shringi said, "Well as I said I worked for six years in the US, before that, I stayed there for another five years and pursued by academics. I had these friends who wanted me to bring them gifts every time I visited India." 

"It was easy in the beginning, but slowly their demands began to be more specific and they would not just accept anything ordinary. That's when the idea first struck me and together with my wife we set up Voylla," a smiling Shringi added.

(Reporting by Sudipto Maity, images by Avishek Mitra/IBNS)