Kama Schachter ventures into India retail

Colin Shah of Kama Schachter today announced the company’s foray into retail in India through three verticals. These include: Kama Jewellery stores, the first of which will be launched on February 14th in Andheri, Mumbai; Kama brands, starting with Kama Platinum and Kama Love; and online retail.

Shah stressed that since 2007-08, when the company first began wholesaling in India, it had been conducting various studies and surveys, and that their retail plans were based on a firm foundation of consumer feedback and insights gained as a result.

Based on this, the entire Kama retail philosophy has been woven around the concept of love and that “all relationships are unique”.

Kama Love, for example will be a brand entirely based on couple bands in plain and studded gold. The concept takes off from the Platinum experience. The Platinum Guild International’s “Platinum Day of Love” found a strong resonance in India where young couples who may have had an arranged marriage, often find their special moment of love later in the relationship, at which point pledging their love through an exchange of rings has gained considerable ground. Kama hopes to provide young couples the same opportunity in gold.

Already 50 retailers are on board for the distribution of the two brands, and by the end of the year Shah expects the number to go up to 100.

The entire retail venture is estimated to have an investment of between Rs 50 crores to 70 crores in the first year.