Making Luury Affordable & Accessible
Amit Tyagi
Bengaluru based startup, It’s My Time, is an exclusive platform for buying and selling pre-owned luxury Swiss watches. This Company had recently launched its portal www.itsmytime.co.in. This platform will make covetable timepieces accessible to all connoisseurs of luxury in India.
Authenticity and impeccable quality of all products on sale are a promise on its part. The company aims to establish offline Evaluation Centers in New Delhi, Mumbai, and Hyderabad in the forthcoming months in order to increase its available inventory at a rapid pace. This will also help the owners of luxury watches to visit the centers in their city and have their watches evaluated for sale on the platform.
The co-founders, Reena Mirpuri, a luxury retail veteran; Gowtham U, a marketing veteran; and mentored by Prof. Shivaram Mallavali, technology guru in his own right. The three came together with a vision to help people upgrade their timepieces, and buy a premium product at the right price.
Globally, the pre used luxury market has been booming. According to a study by consultancy Bain and Altagamma, in 2014 the market for used luxury bags, watches, and jewellery hit the $17.5 billion mark. Euro Monitor International forecasts that India will achieve the fastest real growth in luxury goods sales of all emerging markets between 2014 and 2018. Total luxury goods retail value in India is expected to grow by 63% (ahead of China on 59%) during the period. Due to rising disposable income and increased exposure to international luxury brands, the demand for pre-owned luxury accessories has gathered momentum among both men and women consumers.
Speaking to Employment News Gowtham U, Co-founder, It’s My Time, said, “We are committed to make luxury affordable and accessible in India, and hence we have created a platform to make timepieces accessible to all connoisseurs of luxury in India." He added, “A change in the Indian consumer mindset regarding international pre-owned luxury watches has created the need for a platform as its My Time."
In order to shop from the platform, one has to sign up as a member. The membership is free and the visitors are required to sign up via email id and password. The platform has an exciting lineup of pre-owned luxury watches from a wide range of uber luxury Swiss brands.
How did you get idea for the business?
While the luxury market is growing, we thought it would be pertinent to offer customers the best of luxury at an affordable price and hence the thought of It’s My Time came into existence.
What was your mission at the outset?
The mission is to be India’s best platform for Pre-owned luxury watches as well as the most sought after portal for new luxury collections too.
How many employees work in your enterprise?
We believe in keeping it simple, we are currently a three-member team in the Management comprising of our Director and Mentor Mr.Shivaram Malavalli, my co-founder Reena Mirpuri and myself along with a very small team to handle back end administration and logistics.
What services do you provide?
Once a customer decides to sell us a watch, we ensure proper servicing of the watch and photography of the watch and while sending the watch to our buyer, we ensure it is thoroughly insured and safe.
How do you advertise your business?
We try to make the best of limited finances we can splurge on advertising. A highly dedicated digital marketing firm has been looped in to handle our online advertising because now we are not into print advertising owing to very high costs.
Since the time we have launched we have made good number of subscribers/users and we are sure that we will reach our projected milestones.
What made you choose current location?
What better place can be for a start up other than Bangalore. Moreover all the team members hail from Bangalore too.
What is unique about your business?
The uniqueness lies in the fact that in our pre-owned section, we offer the best of the brands at very good prices and in our New Collections; we are offering the best brands, which are only with us in India.
What are your responsibilities as the head of a firm?
We as a team do aim not to look at any particular person as a boss. Each one handles his/her responsibilities to the best of their abilities and every decision taken by anyone would be in the best interests on business. Every business hurdle is judged dis-passionately and a prudent decision is taken.
Does your company help the community around you?
We have all the intentions to certainly be of more help not only to the community but also understanding how hard it is to turn around a concept into reality, We would certainly want to be of good assistance to entrepreneurs in the long run.
If you had one piece of advice to someone just starting out, what would it be?
It is imperative not just to have an idea but also adequate funds to reach a stage wherein he/she can get the interests of VC’s or Angel Funding. It is advised not to fall prey to promises and assurances made by anyone that we will fund you later. It is also very important to have a team who lives your dream and shares the same degree of interest and the will to achieve and believe.
What are the two challenges you have faced in your business?
The first challenge we faced was to ensure all the Regulatory permissions and requisites were compiled with and the second biggest challenge was to have value based International tie-ups and we very highly value our association with our International Partners.
What do you feel about the sustainability of start-ups in India?
While the Companies which comes out into the public glare and attain recognition are welcomed by one and all, it is extremely difficult to sustain a company without adequate reserves and one should believe in oneself to make things happen and never lose focus. It is always the best “to keep it simple”.