Supriya Donthi, who is a biotechnologist by training and an avid admirer of the natural world, launched Leafy Affair in the year 2016. Donthi shared with media, “I’ve always had a deep affection for both plants and animals, and at some point in my life, my interest settled within that field.” And she has taken her appreciation of the natural world and incorporated it into her jewellery designs.
According to Allied Market Research, the market for Indian costume jewellery had a value of $1.78 billion in 2019 and is expected to reach $2.12 billion by 2027. This represents a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7% for the period of 2019 to 2027.
Within the scope of this enormous industry, Leafy Affair is concentrating on the extremely specialised botanical lifestyle and jewellery market segment. According to the company’s founder and current chief executive officer, Donthi, “our target market is maybe 10% of the overall market.”
Bengaluru-based Leafy Affair is a preserved botanical lifestyle company that mostly sells jewellery. The flowers that are used in the firm’s products go through a procedure that preserves them, and then they are fashioned into jewellery. In addition to that, it sells stationery and has future intentions to expand into the market for home decor products as well.
The concept for the design of each item is conceived internally, and after production has begun, that information is communicated to the manufacturing team. The majority of the botanicals that are utilised in these products can be difficult to track down in India. The vast majority of the raw materials are preserved by the seller before being imported from worldwide locations including Southeast Asia, the United States, and the United Kingdom. Moreover, a number of insignificant materials are brought in from China.
Over 150 different products are currently available on the marketplace. In accordance with the orders that are placed, these are sent not only throughout India but also to other countries. The company has sold its wares to customers in a variety of countries, including the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Singapore, and Dubai. On a monthly basis, new floral preservation techniques, botanicals, and designs are chosen to be featured on the website of the company.
The website has roughly 7,000 unique visits every single day and about 1,500 orders each and every month. According to Donthi, “we had approximately one lakh visitors on our page last month and received six thousand orders.” Because of its appearance on Shark Tank a month earlier, the company was able to achieve such a significant amount of sales.
This startup, which has been bootstrapped and is being fostered by IIMB NSRCEL, has hopes to increase its monthly orders to 4,000 in the next months.
Because of the nature of the D2C market segment, there are very few direct competitors to the company like Alankaara. Companies such as Melora and Giva, amongst others, are examples of its indirect competitors.
In addition to the debut of a new home décor line and the addition of a number of new products to the company’s stationary line, the company’s primary objective is to increase its income. One of its long-term expansion ambitions involves opening a physical storefront in the form of Leafy Affair Studio in the city of Bangalore.
