Online beauty store Purplle aims $100M sales in FY21, eyes acquisition

The ecommerce firm, which has raised $35 million of funding from global investment bank Goldman Sachs and other investors, is exploring opportunities for acquisition in brands, technology, and content space to fuel growth, Purplle co-founder and CEO Manish Taneja told PTI in a telephonic interview.

“The coronavirus pandemic had worked in our favour. In the short term, demand will continue to be robust as people prefer to stay indoors and go for online purchases. Given the economic situation, we may see some speed breakers in the long term,” he said.

Purplle achieved $50 million in gross merchandise value in 2019-20.
“In the current fiscal, we expect $100 million sales, out of a $7 billion beauty industry in the country,” he said.

Taneja said the consolidation in the online beauty and personal care segment is expected to happen in the second half of the current fiscal.

“Consolidation will happen in this industry in the second half of the year. Some small firms and startups will find difficulties to tide over the crisis, and raising money is getting difficult now. We are open for acquisitions,” he said.
The company concluded a mega sale programme on Saturday.
“In 2017, we introduced our own brands. Now, our four in-house brands generate 45 percent of the total revenue,” Taneja said.
The online beauty and cosmetics firms have started witnessing good business from tier-II and tier-III cities after the lockdown restrictions were eased, he said.

“Our 70 percent of sales are coming from tier-II and tier-III cities. West Bengal and the north-east region are contributing nearly 30 percent of our sales,” Taneja said.

The firm had opened a fulfillment centre in Kolkata recently, while two more such facilities will be made operational shortly in Hyderabad and Guwahati.

Fulfillment centres help the company to bring down logistics cost, he said.
Skincare, makeup and hair care are the largest volume drivers in the online shopping of personal care segments, he added.