50 stores strong, Aditya Birla’s Indriya turns CTV and micro influencers into growth engines

New Delhi: In a jewellery market where growth is usually measured in generations, not quarters, Indriya-Aditya Birla Jewellery is moving at startup speed. 

In less than 19 months, the brand has scaled from four stores across three cities to 50 outlets, with plans to cross 75 by March. In a category shaped by legacy surnames, deep local trust and high capital intensity, that kind of acceleration stands out. 

But the real story is not just store count. It is how the brand is managing gold volatility, digital-first media bets and shifting consumer behaviour in real time. 

Speaking exclusively to BestMediaInfo, Shantiswarup Panda, Head of Marketing and Visual Merchandising at Indriya, broke down the strategy behind the sprint.

On media mix, Panda revealed that approximately 50 to 60% of the brand’s media spends are digital. He called it an unusual strategy for a retailer without e-commerce. “We are probably the first retailer to put so much money into digital while not being commerce-enabled on our website.”

Digital, in Indriya’s case, includes connected TV. “We have not spent a single rupee on satellite television so far, yet our awareness and recall are high.” The rationale is footprint-led precision. Connected TV allows city-level targeting rather than state-wide spillover. “Media strategy is dynamic. It depends on footprint and efficiency,” he said, signalling that satellite TV may become viable as store presence widens.

The festive season campaign became a case study in branded content.

“We recreated an entirely new song. On Instagram alone, we had 200+ million views. On YouTube, we had about 25 million views,” Panda said. The impact translated beyond vanity metrics. “We had a very good festive season in terms of footfalls.”

Panda detailed the brand’s measurement framework. “Engagement for us is 3x the industry benchmark and 5x that of most players.” Indriya currently has around 955K Instagram followers and 1.2 million Facebook followers and recently became the third-largest player in its competitive set on social media.

But, he insisted, “We don’t chase followers through paid boosts alone.”

“Our entire content strategy is led by celebrating the karigar and karigari. It is not just advertising. It is beautiful content that people love and share.” 

The brand tracks reach-frequency curves, runs awareness and consideration dipsticks with Kantar, and correlates upper-funnel spends with store footfalls. Performance spends, he admitted, remain smaller. “Today, performance is click-through rates for direction and map direction for our store. We don’t do commerce on websites.” 

Influencer strategy has shifted meaningfully, too.“Influencer marketing is time-bound and dynamic,” Panda said, acknowledging that long-term contracts proved inefficient. The new model involves shorter bursts, three to five content pieces decided closer to campaign cycles. Increasingly, the focus is on micro and regional creators. “They have strong authenticity and help drive consideration more than reach,” he added.

Despite reports of declining cinema footfalls in some markets, Panda remains bullish for jewellery.  “For a visual category like jewellery, cinema works.” He pointed to Telangana, where cinema consumption remains high. “Consumers watch at least three movies in a month.”

Beyond traditional ad spots, Indriya has used cinema theatres for immersive activations, lighting up rooftops during the Aasmaniyat collection launch to create memorability beyond a 30-second film.

Two months ago, Indriya integrated a loyalty and marketing automation platform connecting store entry to billing. Its loyalty programme, Indriya Privé, has no blackout periods and strong redemption metrics. “We enrich customer data, date of birth, and anniversary, to enable meaningful engagement.”

Birthday points are pre-credited with a limited expiry to drive store visits. Referral mechanics reward both referrer and referee. The ambition is clear. Build repeat purchase behaviour early in the brand’s lifecycle.

Indriya began on 24 July 2024 with four stores across Jaipur, Delhi and Indore. It now operates 50 stores and expects to cross 75 by the end of March. In a category that traditionally scales cautiously, Indriya is layering expansion with digital precision, volatility hedging, influencer agility and CRM integration, all at the same time.

On the sharp rise in gold and silver prices, Panda did not underplay the turbulence. “To be honest, the last one and a half months have been extremely up and down for the entire industry. The industry has not observed this kind of volatility in maybe 5 to 8 years,” he said.

Yet, demand has held. “January was extremely good for most retailers, including us,” he noted, adding that consumers have been “aggressively buying.”

Short-term behavioural shifts are visible. “If gold prices rise 20%, consumers may not increase their wallet size by 20%. They will try to find something within their existing budget,” he explained. To counter volatility anxiety, Indriya runs Double Gold Rate Protection, or DGRP.

“What it does is protect customers against gold prices going up or down. You can take the lowest price between the booking day and the final purchase day. In a way, it ring-fences gold volatility for a short duration. It has been extremely successful for us.”