Titan Co. subsidiary CaratLane said its Q1 revenue nearly quadrupled (+272%) to Rs.157 crore ($21.1 million) despite only 41% of store operational days in the quarter. Online sales contributed around 50% of Q1 revenue and drove up international business almost ninefold. CaratLane restricted its Q1 pre-tax loss to Rs.9 crore as compared to Rs.19 crore in Q1 last year.
Mithun Sacheti, Founder and Managing Director of CaratLane, said, “Consumers across the world have been embracing the digital medium for accessing products and services at an unprecedented pace. CaratLane… has been a beneficiary of this mega trend and has been delivering industry-leading performance since the start of the pandemic.”
The company opened four new stores in Q1, taking the total count to 121 stores in 45 cities. The second Covid wave created a temporary setback for the business due to the shutdown of stores.
Store operational days were 64%, 11% and 53% for the months of April, May, and June, respectively. As the second wave started receding from May, sales started improving with strong recovery by the end of the quarter. The revenue contribution was approximately 39%, 22% and 39% for the months of April, May, and June, respectively.
Sacheti added, “As another offshoot of this digital mega-trend, it is heartening to see that our international foray in mid-2019 is growing at a healthy rate. We have tapped into a large demand of NRI customers across USA, UK, Canada, Australia, Singapore and other markets, who are looking to buy beautiful Indian jewellery but don’t have access to those designs locally.”