Jewel Hub, the online retail portal for diamond jewellery has planned to open up 100 touch and feel pop-up stores largely on franchisee basis over the next two years to allow customers get a hands on experience of the products before buying them online.

To begin with, Jewel Hub plans to open two stores in Mumbai and one each in Delhi and Chandigarh in the next two months.

"We may call it the reverse retail revolution. Unlike several brick and mortar retail outlets foraying into e-commerce, Jewel Hub after tasting success on its online portal has decided to operate such outlets based on the customer feedback received," said Bhavin Mehta, Co-Founder and Managing Director, Jewel Hub.com

Jewel Hub, that has set a revenue target of Rs 60-70 crore over the next 18-24 months, will also own and operate a few stores at select locations and would fund them through angel funds raised earlier. "The proposed pop-up stores will be set up in high footfall areas like shopping malls and will be mostly 3 way counters of 6 x 6 feet. Average estimated set-up cost per outlet would be approx. Rs 4-5 lakhs per outlet and operating cost would be approx. Rs 12-15 lakhs per annum," said Gurmeet Singh, Co-Founder & Director, Jewel Hub.com

"These outlets will demystify the diamonds for the customers and provide them with the much needed touch and feel aspect currently missing in the high value jewellery e-tailing," Singh said.

The franchisees will enjoy a commission on the orders booked online from their respective outlets.The Domestic Gems & Jewellery Industry has a market size of Rs. 251,000 crore (US $ 40.45 Billion) according to the last available study done by a leading industry body. Current online business is approximately less than 1% of the total jewellery business in India with a huge potential for the business to grow in coming years.