As part of the agreement, Senco will run all existing Company Owned and Company Operated (COCO) Melorra stores as master franchisee of AJPL, operator of the Melorra brand. Last year, Senco had placed a bid to acquire Melorra
Kolkata: Senco Gold Limited has entered into a strategic marketing agreement with August Jewellery Private Limited (AJPL), the operator of the Melorra brand, effective until September 30, 2025.
As part of the agreement, Senco will operate more than 20 existing Company Owned and Company Operated (COCO) Melorra stores as a franchisee of AJPL. Additionally, the Franchisee Owned and Franchisee Operated (FOFO) and Franchisee Owned Company Operated (FOCO) Melorra stores of AJPL will become sub-franchisees under Senco. The stores will exclusively sell products of the Melorra brand.
Senco will also hold the rights to open new Melorra franchisee stores under the brand. These stores will exclusively retail Melorra products. The agreement does not involve any financial consideration and is not classified as a related party transaction.
Last year, Senco had placed a bid to acquire omnichannel jewellery retailer Melorra as it sought to expand its presence in the e-commerce space.
The current arrangement is aimed at expanding Senco’s customer reach, particularly among younger consumer segments. The brand also expects an increase in sales volume, especially for diamond jewellery.
Meanwhile, SencoGold achieved retail growth of 23% in Q4 FY25, buoyed by strong wedding and festive season business. The same-store sales growth (SSSG) was 18.4% in Q4. The growth in Tier III and Tier IV towns outpaced metro and Tier II city growth. The company achieved 39% growth in diamond jewellery sales in Q4 as against 9% in the nine preceding months, leading to 14.2% overall growth in the full year.
In FY25, the company’s overall revenue crossed Rs 6,200 crore, recording around 19.4% YoY retail growth and 14.6% SSSG growth. The company’s non-East revenue for FY25 has crossed Rs 1,100 crore as against Rs 940 crore in FY24, growing at 23%.During the year, the company launched 15 showrooms (net) in FY25 including 6 franchisees, increasing its showroom portfolio to 175 (including 72 Franchisee showrooms and 1 showroom in Dubai).
Notably, Melorra was founded in 2015 by former Titan executive Saroja Yeramilli, with its USP of offering lightweight jewellery for daily usage.
Yeramilli envisioned it as a fast jewellery brand that introduces new designs every week, an attractive proposition at that time in the nascent D2C space. The start-up grew as it raised $5 million in its seed round led by Lightbox Ventures in 2016.
In December 2020, Melorra set up its first offline retail store in Bengaluru and within three years, the store count rose to 32, covering Delhi NCR, Mumbai, Lucknow, Bhopal, among other cities. The majority of these stores were opened in late 2022 and 2023. However, Melorra later faced a severe cash crunch in the face of late omnichannel entry and stiff competition, owing to which it had to shut down some of its stores.
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