The 150 Year-Old Enterprise Believes in Franchising

The 150-year-old gems and jewelry enterprise, C Krishniah Chetty & Sons (CKC), among the oldest single-ownership Indian companies, believes the franchise is the best model for the growth of a company.

According to TechSci Research report “Global Gems and Jewelry Market Forecast and Opportunities, 2020”, the global gems & jewelry market is projected to register revenue growth at a CAGR of around 6% during 2015-20. Global gems & jewelry market was dominated by gold segment in 2014, and the segment is forecast to continue dominating the market through 2020.

In a candid conversation with FranchiseIndia.com, Chaitanya V Cotha, Sales Associate and one of the Directors of CKC Group reveals the secret of growing and handling a 150-year-old company.

The Secret

Running a business successfully for 150 years is not a joke, the challenges that were earlier have turned either big or have taken a technological and new generation kind of shape.

Chaitanya says, “A lot of ethics. Our ethics and discipline are very strong. When looking at jewelry, we are one of the more organized jewelers in the country. We are not here to assert actions and run away, we have been in the business for 150 years and I am the 6th generation in the family biz. My great great great grandfather started the company; our company is not here just to make a sale, but to build a relationship which will last forever.”

He says, “Our robust supply chain management, high ethical standards (no smuggled gold used, no conflict diamonds used), in-house dedicated design team, modern technology utilization, structured management and market-led pricing sets us distinctly differentiated.”

Why Franchising?

The company plans to add 6 more franchise stores over the period of next one year. On being asked why does he believe franchising is an ideal model for brand expansion?

 Chaitanya explains, “Franchising is an interesting concept only because it gives you the opportunity to expand faster and to work with people in terms of understanding your business. I believe partnership should be flawless.”

He says, “We do an analysis of what suits the brand and we have a well-established online presence, which offers modern designs and is updated by a separate team. Because of the increase in demand for gems and diamonds, mainly from the middle-class segment, the growth of a business is quite assured.”

Global Brands Targeting India

In the recent times, India has witnessed the record number of global brands’ inflow, which has shaken the foundations of many domestic brands both new and old but CKC has nothing to be afraid of from these foreign brands.

Chaitanya gives us the details of why foreign brands are getting attracted to the Indian market, “The spending power has increased quite drastically. I think the middle class has gone up quite substantially meaning that there is a surplus of actual spending amount that can be done.  India today with a billion populations, even with its 20% is a huge population and it is only increasing. India is the youngest nation in the world that’s why I think a lot of companies are coming to India.”

He says, “Our loyal clients are 60% while new acquisitions are 40%. Our loyalty program is designed to automatically reward clients with points, birthday and anniversary gifts, rewards, bonuses and special privileges for higher point earning clients. It’s a signature, first of its kind in the country.”