With a high theft rate of wallets and purses in India, T.S Sathyaraj and A. Kannan wanted to find a technology-based solution to keep these items safe — and one that wouldn't jeopardize the quality of the products.

So they launched Cuir Ally, a global affordable luxury leather goods brand offering unique products like India’s first anti-theft technology-enabled smart wallets and tech-powered safety clutches for women.

Started in 2016, Cuir Ally began by retailing online and then launching offline. Today, they have a presence in over 70 Croma Stores and premium retail stores like Odyssey, William Penn, and ConneXions. With an annual turnover of Rs 2 crore (approximately USD 288,000), the brand gets 80 percent of its business from its own website, 15 percent from retail stores, and 5 percent from online marketplaces.

“Due to the uniqueness of our products, customers assume that these are too good to be true and sales conversion becomes a problem,” says Sathyaraj. “By selling in offline retail channels, customers get to see and feel the product.”

They also use the WhatsApp Business app to share live product demo videos, pictures, and answer customer queries.

The impact of the WhatsApp Business app has been so huge that Cuir Ally has now majorly shifted all customer communication to WhatsApp

“WhatsApp has been a big game-changer for us,” Sathyaraj says.

One of the first things they did was to add a WhatsApp widget on their website.

"We saw 10% increased conversions after we made the switch from traditional live chat software,” says Sathyaraj, adding that 30 percent of orders come in through a link on their website that connects customers directly to WhatsApp.

The impact of the WhatsApp Business app has been so huge that Cuir Ally has now majorly shifted all customer communication to WhatsApp.

Sharing an example of how WhatsApp is helping Cuir Ally with international sales, Kannan says, “A French customer, who was in the U.S., had purchased our Women’s Smart Clutch. But she wasn’t able to understand the set-up instructions as they were in English. So, we set up a WhatsApp call and helped her out.”

The founders believe that as they continue to scale up their international orders, the WhatsApp Business app is going to be a game changer, just as it has been for them in India.