FoodPlus in a quick chat with Mr. Uday Verma, Executive Director, Lucaris
Tell us a bit about yourself.
As the Executive Director of the company, I am incredibly excited about providing the best quality masters’ choice and lifestyle products under LUCARIS brand. I strive to create customer-centric strategies that not just understands the inherent demand but also adapts to changing needs arising from the market. I personally promise clarity, transparency and the highest level of service standards to all our partners spread across 97 countries.
Can you throw some light on the product offerings?
LUCARIS, the Crystal of Modern Asia, celebrates the new Asian dining and wining lifestyle. For the very first time, we started to produce world class crystal stemware in Asia a decade ago and we have been delivering the most enjoyable experience throughout the globe. The design of LUCARIS stemware and wine accessories are a collaborative achievement between the glassmaking expertise of Toyo-Sasaki Glass of Japan, Ocean Glass of Thailand, the most advanced glass technology from Germany and several award-winning designers whose work appear in portfolios of many world-class brands. A great consortium finally resulted into the creation of the most admirable crystal glass from Asia. Our lead-free crystal glass compositions with physical aesthetics better placed than the conventional lead crystal also gives exceptional clarity and brilliance on top of extra strength and durability.
LUCARIS personifies luxury in every product with a range of outstanding glassware collections such as:
The Masters’ Choice Collection
a. The Elements Collection –The award winning handmade, mouth blown ultra-luxury crystal collection that define true you
b. Desire Collection –The Award winning design collection with Aerlumer®
c. RIMS Collection –The tradition defining barware with many accolades for the elegant designs
Lifestyle Collection
a. Lavish Collection (New – 2020 Launch)
b. Shanghai Soul Collection
c. Hong Kong Hip Collection
d. Tokyo Temptation Collection
e. Bangkok Bliss Collection
What measures are you taking to ensure the safety and quality of your products?
Consumers are likely to become more conscious towards health and hygiene, thus, there would be a greater inclination towards products and brands that follow strict healthcare guidelines, good packaging standards and tweak their business model to arising trend that embraces automation in production, digitalization in product demonstrations, e-payments and efficient order processing.
At LUCARIS, we have geared up to follow all of the above to ensure that we meet the changing needs. We are doing everything we can to protect well-being of our customers as we aim to deliver an exceptional lifestyle experience in the best possible way.
Impact of coronavirus on the luxury retail industry, your comments?
COVID-19 has impacted industries across segments whether it is a homegrown entity or a brand with a global footprint. The luxury glassware product industry is no exception and has been experiencing the negative impact of coronavirus. Having said that, we have evidence that most of the companies in service industry who have been able to alter the nature of their product or service have emerged as survivors during these testing times.
Along with household consumers, hospitality industry including airlines, airline lounges, stand-alone fine dining restaurants to five-star hotels and other high-end properties are extremely crucial for our business and they account for the maximum percentage of demand for luxury glassware brands. The current scenario has severely impacted travel, causing a big slump in the hospitality industry not only in India but worldwide. Due to this, there has been a drop-in sales of luxury glassware in Indian subcontinent.
For years now, the hospitality leaders and ventures have always kept LUCARIS – The crystal of Modern Asia, at the forefront of their service for exceeding satisfaction levels of wining and dining connoisseurs in India. However, these unaccounted circumstances have led to an unprecedented decline in demand of luxury glassware.
COVID-19 is very likely to bring changes in our society and in the way people live today. Life as we know now may get modified to make apparent adjustments in the economy, digitalization and the way people have been looking at healthcare for all these years. With most consumers being stuck indoors and the stores being closed, the luxury retail industry has had to brace themselves for the impact. It could be a while before demand picks up and reach normalcy. This is also due to the economic impact of the lockdown.
At LUCARIS, we believe it is important to keep consumers inspired and passionate in their life at home during this time. We are constantly trying to reach and engage our audience through our creative and informative brand content online. We are confident that LUCARIS will emerge stronger out of this COVID-19 crisis with the support of luxury glassware admirers.
India being one of the top international markets for Lucaris – what are the challenges that the brand is facing due to the lockdown?
The biggest challenge is the new normal lifestyle and the fact that most of the restaurants have adapted themselves to cater to home delivery. We are facing a dilemma regarding how we can create an impulse demand to have crystal wine glasses at home to enhance their dining experience while being at home.
What in your opinion is the path to regaining momentum post lockdown for luxury retail? Tell us about your future vision, any expansion plans.
In the post COVID era, travel, hospitality and many more industries as well as related suppliers like LUCARIS will need to adopt a different way of dealing with consumers. Once there is no lockdown, things will gradually return to normalcy possibly with newer perspectives with more conscious towards health and hygiene. The luxury industry has reinvented itself time and again by quickly adapting to the changes in the society. In the long term, we foresee a more cheerful and healthier lifestyle post COVID-19 where people shall treat themselves with luxury glassware.
