admin
August 30, 2024
In a startup world, founders are typically creators first while investors see themselves as the monitors. Therefore, conflicts between the two are almost a default feature of a relationship that in effect funds a dream. From ‘off’ chemistry to differences of opinion to what some founders see as shackles on entrepreneurial freedom, the reasons could be any or a mix of all. Watch this discussion, with a mega-panel of intense start-up founders on the one hand and investors with VC funds on the other, addressing the pain points on Cash, Control, Creativity, Chemistry and Culture in a supercharged encounter. Session Anchor, Devangshu Dutta (Founder, Third Eyesight) reflected, “Those who have heard classical music jugalbandi or witnessed jazz musicians jamming will appreciate the creative tension, the give and take that was the thread throughout this discussion, reflecting the reality of the relationship between entrepreneurs and VCs.”
Watch the video
INVESTORS:
Ankita Balotia, VP, Fireside Ventures
Aashish Vanigota, Principal – Investments, IvyCap Ventures Advisors Private Limited
Bhawna Bhatnagar, Co-founder, We Founder Circle
Nitya Agarwal, VP-Investments, 3one4 Capital
Harmanpreet Singh, Founder & Managing Partner, Prath Ventures
Vamshi Reddy, Partner, Kalaari Capital
Zoeb Ali Khan, Vice President, Sauce.vc
D2C FOUNDERS:
Abdus Samad, Founder, Sam & Marshall Eyewear
Akshay Mahendru, Co-Founder & CEO, The Pet Point & Nootie
Malvika Jain, Founder, SEREKO
Nitin Jain, Founder, Indigifts
Puneet Tyagi, Egoss Shoes
Radhika Dang, CEO & Founder, The Good Karma Company
Rahul Aggarwal, Coffeeza
Udit Toshniwal, Founder & Director, The Pant Project
Vaani Chugh, Co-founder & Director, D’chica
Yash Kotak, Co-founder, Bombay Hemp Co.
Yashesh Mukhi, Co-founder, Chupps
admin
July 20, 2024
Gargi Sarkar, Inc42
20 July 2024
The Indian government’s ban on Chinese apps and products in 2020 saw two massive casualties. Everyone knows about TikTok, but fast fashion brand Shein was equally as big in India four years ago.
But the India setback did not halt Shein’s global momentum, just as it did not stop TikTok from becoming what it is today. Shein became the world’s largest online-only fashion company in 2022.
Valued at a staggering $10 Bn, the brand accounted for nearly one-fifth of the global fast-fashion market in 2022, outpacing giants such as Zara and H&M. To put things in context, Shein was founded in 2008, whereas Zara was incorporated in 1975 and H&M in 1947.
In India, Shein set the market on fire. Launched in India in 2018, the brand was already a major player by 2020, dominating online searches and influencer-led content. But the ban in 2020 meant all that came to a halt.
The Indian government’s ban stemmed from fears of Shein’s Chinese parent company storing or transferring data of Indian customers to China. While the ban itself came under a tense geopolitical climate, one could say that Shein’s exit left a gap in India’s fashion market which D2C brands quickly filled.
Brands such as Urbanic, Twenty Dresses, Cilory, attempted to fill the void but couldn’t quite match Shein’s popularity. Indeed, VCs also backed fast fashion and casual wear startups such as The Souled Store, Virgio, NewMe and others which looked to replicate the Shein formula.
Ecommerce unicorn Meesho has also looked to fill the gap with affordable fashion and a similar content-led sales strategy that worked wonders for Shein.
While many of these brands have grown in scale over the past four years, none of them — at least so far — have quite replicated the magic of Shein and how quickly it disrupted the market.
And that’s arguably why Shein’s re-entry into India through a partnership with Reliance Retail is a big deal.
Shein joins the Mukesh Ambani-led conglomerate’s exclusive portfolio of over 50 brands, including Silk Feet, Jivers, Xlerate, Feet Up, Dhuni by Avaasa, Riva, John Player Select, Kidlyboo, and Altair. Besides this, Reliance Retail has similar deals with designer labels such as Kenzo, Y3, Marc Jacobs, Coach, Steve Madden, Kate Spade, among others.
It’s clear why Shein has looked to re-enter India, where the fast fashion industry is projected to reach a size of $30 Bn by FY23, as per a Redseer report. The overall fashion segment grew at a modest 6% YoY in FY24, whereas the fast fashion subsegment surged by up to 40% in the same period. Now, Shein is back to grab a large chunk of the market once again, though there’s definitely a lot different about this Shein.
Reliance Punches Shein’s Ticket To India
The first thing that we need to note is that Shein is not back as a standalone entity, but its products will be available on Reliance Retail’s apps and physical stores. Shein is not operating business in India — Reliance is said to be bringing in former Meta director Manish Chopra to lead the brand.
Shein’s parent entity will receive a licence fee as a share of profits generated solely within India. The operations will be managed by a company wholly owned by Reliance Retail. Crucially, all data and the app itself will be hosted and stored within India, ensuring that Shein has no access to or control over this data.
These are some of the key factors behind Shein’s comeback to India being approved by the government nearly one year ago.
Reliance Retail is set to launch the Chinese fast-fashion label Shein within the coming weeks. Further, to diversify its supply chain and promote domestic industries, Shein reportedly will be sourcing goods from India for its global operation in the Middle East and other markets.
More than anything else, fast fashion brands and indeed other some of the more premium brands need to worry about the Reliance factor. Shein’s brand name and Reliance’s massive resource base are a deadly combo.
Reliance Retail’s fashion ecommerce app Ajio directly competes with Myntra, Nykaa Fashion, Meesho, Amazon India, Flipkart, Tata Cliq, and other platforms. From a distribution point of view, Ajio will be the exclusive storefront for Shein, and exclusivity is a big deal in fashion ecommerce.
Ajio commands around 30% market share based on monthly active users (MAUs), data sourced from AllianceBernstein shows.
Flipkart Group’s Myntra maintains the highest market share in terms of active users, surpassing 50%. However, the report notes a decrease in transaction frequency, with Myntra’s GMV growing only 12% in FY23 compared to 35% in FY22.
“Shein’s re-entry may have a somewhat negative impact on Nykaa Fashion, as Nykaa primarily targets the premium fashion segment. In contrast, Myntra caters to both the mass and premium fashion markets and already has strong brand recognition in the fashion industry. Therefore, the impact on Myntra might be mild, whereas Nykaa Fashion could feel more significant effects,” Karan Taurani, SVP, at Elara Capital said.
He added that Shein is part of a broader strategy by Reliance Retail to expand its portfolio of brands. In that sense, Shein is just another addition to its portfolio.
A Myntra executive admitted to Inc42 that Ajio has an edge when it comes to exclusivity, but added that Myntra has also introduced Gen Z-focussed features which are gaining fast traction. Myntra’s focus on in-house brands or private labels is paying off, however, at the same time, the company is also looking to snap up more exclusive brand partnerships.
Should D2C Brands Worry?
One thing that Ajio cannot afford to do is give Shein more prominence. Fashion ecommerce marketplaces are quick to see gaps in terms of sales of particular brands and look to woo them to their side. In this regard, Shein will be competing with a number of D2C brands as well as international labels in fast fashion.
As per Inc42 data, between 2018 and 2023, D2C fashion brands captured almost 93% of the total funding raised in the Indian fashion ecommerce space.
The Myntra executive quoted above believes that Shein will definitely disrupt D2C fashion brands in India as many of them target the Gen Z audience, but they are also looking to protect margins and break into the premium segment.
The D2C landscape in fashion includes the likes of Andamen, House Of Rare, Bombay Shirt Company, Snitch, Damensch, The Souled Store among others. And there are houses of brands such as Mensa Brands, TMRW and others which combined have dozens of brands across categories in fashion. It’s not easy to stand out, and Shein will have to fight for its space on the aisles.
Most of these brands are looking to widen their net margins by adding premium products. Premiumisation is a major thesis among Indian D2C brands right now as they realise many of them are targeting a very limited cream of the market.
On the other hand, Shein has built its reputation on affordability. So is Shein actually directly competing with these players? Market experts believe that Shein is not successful just because of its pricing, but its use of data.
“Brands with the right product and high-quality service should attract customers who are not price-sensitive. A price-oriented brand is not a major threat; the real risk is if your product fails to keep up with market trends. Fashion-driven brands could take your business away if your product quality and service do not meet customer expectations. However, if your product is trendy, the quality is high, and your service is good, you should be safe in retaining customers who are not focused on price,” Devangshu Dutta, founder and CEO of Third Eyesight, said.
Those in the industry do believe that one brand cannot conquer the fashion market. That simply does not happen with the fashion industry, which is why there is so much depth in the market. Shein’s success will lead to the emergence of more D2C brands that look to mimic the data-led, trend-first model.
“The potential of the Indian market is evident, and it’s becoming increasingly exciting. This means that many companies will emerge in this category to serve this customer base. It validates the hypothesis we had two and a half years ago: the Indian consumer is evolving, and fashion should evolve along with them. From that perspective, Shein’s entry justifies and validates our hypothesis,” the founder of a Bengaluru-based GenZ-focussed fashion brand said.
Good brands always emerge from intense competitive churn, and Indian brands have the potential to go global if they hit it big. “Competing against Shein and building a successful business will open new opportunities for us and strengthen our execution and agility,” the founded quoted above added.
Is Shein Ready For Second Innings?
Now, coming back to Shein, it remains to be seen if it will be able to gain popularity like its first stint in India. One must remember that Shein tried to make a comeback in India in 2021 after the government’s ban through ecommerce giant Amazon, but the brand supposedly did not get much traction.
“I think the case of visibility is different when comparing Amazon and Reliance Retail. Through Reliance Retail, the visibility could be much higher compared to Amazon because Reliance Retail already has a very wide portfolio of fashion brands, including more than 25-30 luxury brands across various categories. It’s all about creating visibility, generating buzz, and going to market together in terms of marketing efforts. Reliance has a very strong omnichannel presence, both online and offline,” Elara Capital’s Taurani said.
While Amazon is, of course, a large ecommerce phenomenon, the platform is not a primary port-of-call for online fashion shoppers. This is why Shein could potentially perform better with Reliance Retail.
“We have to wait and see how Shein performs in India. We will need to observe how this unfolds to comment on its visibility and performance, both online and offline. In marketplaces, brands compete daily, and Shein’s strength has always been its designs. We’ll have to closely watch how Reliance leverages this strength,” an industry analyst said.
(Published on Inc42)
admin
October 26, 2023
Sagar Malviya, Economic Times
26 October 2023
Surging demand for fitness wear and sports equipment for disciplines other than cricket and football helped Decathlon’s India unit expand sales 37% to Rs 3,955 crore in FY23. With more than 100 large, warehouse-like stores selling products catering to 85 sporting disciplines, the French company is bigger than Adidas, Nike and Asics all put together in India.
In FY22, sales were Rs 2,936 crore, according to its latest filings with the Registrar of Companies. The retailer, however, posted a net loss of Rs 18.6 crore during the year ended March 2023 compared to a net profit of Rs 36 crore a year ago.
Experts said a host of factors – from pricing products about 30-40% lower than competing products to selling everything from running shoes, athleisure wear to mountaineering equipment under its own brands – has worked in its favour. “They have an extremely powerful format across different sporting activities and have something for both active and casual wear shoppers. For them, the market is still under penetrated with the kind of comprehensive product range they sell for outdoor sports beyond shoes and clothing,” said Devangshu Dutta, founder of retail consulting firm Third Eyesight. “Even their front end staff seem to have a strong domain knowledge about products compared to rival brands.”
By selling only private labels, Decathlon, the world’s biggest sporting goods firm, controls almost every bit of operations, from pricing and design to distribution, and keeps costs and selling prices low.
Decathlon uses a combination of in-house manufacturing and outsourcing to stock its shelves. In fact, it sources nearly 15% of its global requirement from India across sporting goods. And nearly all of its cricket merchandise sold globally is designed and made in India.
(Published in Economic Times)
admin
June 29, 2023
Dia Rekhi & Faizan Haidar, Economic Times
New Delhi, June 29, 2023
Fast Retailing, the parent company of Uniqlo, is looking to set up a significant manufacturing presence in India through about 20 ‘production partners’, multiple people aware of the development told ET.
One of the world’s most valuable clothing retailers, Uniqlo already has a cluster of production partners in India and is looking to expand this network through a significantly large investment, they said without sharing any estimated amount.
“The investment amount will be significant because Uniqlo is serious about India and views it as an important market,” one of the persons said. “Unlike the existing facilities in India, which cater more towards exports, the production partners that Uniqlo will bring to India will be specifically meant for the domestic market.”
One of the company’s production partners that ET spoke to confirmed that their current mandate is to produce only for exports.
Uniqlo, which is Asia’s biggest clothing brand, had said India is one of the top priority markets for them where consumers are increasingly shifting from ‘fast-fashion’ to long-lasting essentials and functional wear.
The company’s ambitions for India are considerable with its CEO Tadashi Yanai indicating that he wants Uniqlo to become the “best-selling retailer in India”.
The Japanese brand opened its first door in September 2019, but stringent lockdown measures announced to contain the outbreak of the pandemic in March 2020 delayed the expansion plan.
The brand is now planning to enter Mumbai and Bangalore. It has already opened stores in Lucknow and Chandigarh after Delhi.
Uniqlo does not own any factories. Instead, it outsources production of almost all its products to factories outside Japan.
As per a report titled ‘The Uniqlo case: fast retailing recipe for attaining market leadership position in casual clothing’, this model allows Uniqlo to keep its breakeven point low and improve return on investment.
“As we expand our global sales, we continue to grow our partner factory network in countries like Vietnam, Bangladesh, Indonesia, and India,” the company has stated on its website.
As per its list of garment factories, as on March 1, 2023, Uniqlo has 227 factories in China, 54 in Vietnam, 33 in Bangladesh, 13 in Indonesia, and 16 factories in India and Japan among several other locations.
As the world’s second most-populated country, India is an attractive market for apparel brands, especially with youngsters increasingly embracing western-style clothing.
Over the past decade, global brands Zara and H&M became market leaders in the fast fashion segment in India.
“For global brands, India should be one of the most logical sourcing hubs given its large vertically integrated manufacturing sector on the one hand and the large, growing domestic market driving demand on the other hand,” Devangshu Dutta, founder of retail consulting firm Third Eyesight, told ET. “However, its weight in the sourcing baskets has historically been low due to several reasons, in spite of China being visible for decades to the management teams of brands and retailers as a concentrated sourcing risk,” he said.
Uniqlo’s existing production partners in the country include Shahi Exports, Brandix Lanka, Tangerine Design, Maral Overseas, Shingora Textiles, Silver Spark Apparel, SM Lulla Industries Worldwide and Penguin Apparels.
As per Fast Retailing’s first-half results, the company said its revenue was 1.4672 trillion yen, or around $10.2 billion, and that its operating profit had risen to 220.2 billion yen ($1.53 billion), bolstered by strong performances from operations in several regions, including India where it said it generated significant increases in both revenue and profit.
With regard to Uniqlo International, in particular, it said revenue stood at 755.2 billion yen ($5.25 billion), while operating profit was 122.6 billion yen ($852.93 million).
The company said regions like India “reported significant revenue and profit gains as they enter a full-fledged growth phase”.
(Published in Economic Times)
admin
May 25, 2023
Rochelle Britto & Shabori Das, The Economic Times
May 25, 2023
“Taiyaar Hoke Aaiye”. It seems the tagline has worked for the company which has been able to attract investors who came prepared for its offer for sale (OFS).
In a bid to reduce promoters’ shareholding down to 75% as per SEBI norms, Vedant Fashions, known for its ethnic wear brand Manyavar, floated the OFS on May 19 which saw huge participation — oversubscribed 1.4 times with bids for 34 million shares as compared to 24 million shares on the offer. The non-retail segment was oversubscribed 2.24 times.
The shares were offered at a price of INR1,161. While the stock initially fell 1.5% on May 19 to INR1,230, it was trading at INR1,268 on May 24, up 4.59% in five days.
The promoters have offloaded 16.9 million shares, which works out to 7% of the total equity shares with an option to sell additional 6.9 million (2.88%) shares, taking the total to 9.88%.
Manyavar represents the premium wedding market of the country and boasts of some big names as its brand ambassador — Virat Kohli, Amitabh Bachchan, Ranveer Singh, and Kartik Aaryan. With strong fundamentals, the company has grown at 30% CAGR over the last one year and investors feel this is one classic growth stock with high valuations that cannot be ignored. Vedant Fashions trades at a PE multiple of 73x while Trent, a competitor, has a PE of 119x.
The great Indian wedding
The sales of Vedant Fashion are highly correlated to the wedding season. The Indian wedding market is massive at USD50 billion with around 3 million weddings or events taking place every year. According to news reports, the spending is growing and is likely to be around INR3.75 lakh crore this year.
According to Crisil, weddings are getting bigger, grander, and longer, fuelled by higher disposable incomes and a surge in discretionary spending. It expects the ethnic-apparel market to grow between 15% and 17% to nearly INR1.38 trillion by 2025, supported by a growing desire among Indians to wear traditional attire instead of western wear for big celebrations.
While a lavish spending is done on everything, from venue to food to even flower arrangement, clothes hog the limelight. The business has become high-margin, elite, and high-fashion. And the organised market is growing at a very fast pace.
In the organised market, Vedant Fashion has a 40% market share which might be difficult to maintain as competition increases. “In the upcoming quarter, while April experiences a slight lull in wedding dates, May and June present an abundance of excellent opportunities. Moreover, as we analyse the entire year ahead, we are highly confident in the favourable wedding dates during Q3 and Q4. These trends align closely with our historical data, reinforcing our optimism for the current new financial year,”says Vedant Modi, chief marketing officer, Vedant Fashions.
“Vedant Fashions has successfully tapped into and emerged as the market leader, head and shoulders above competitors, in a segment that has been extremely fragmented. Festive wear and occasion wear is not immune to downturns, but is better placed to ride them out, and this makes it a very attractive product segment. However, Vedant have exploited this opportunity and scaled up much more successfully than other companies, beginning with menswear and then in womenswear,” says Devangshu Dutta, CEO, Third Eyesight.
Expansion spree
Vedant Fashions is expanding its retail footprint by adding around 75,000 sq ft retail area in Q4FY23. It has a total retail presence of 1.47 million square feet as of March FY23, spanning across 649 stores in 257 cities. There is a direct correlation between the addition of stores and the growth in sales, but the full potential of a new store takes some time. Almost 40% of the expansion has happened in the fourth quarter, so the full revenue (of the expansion) would come in the following year. Thus, many times the store growth doesn’t match the revenue growth.
The company is also expanding in US, UAE, London, and Canada to cater to the growing Indian community in these markets. For FY23, it has had sales growth of 30% at INR1,355 crore with Ebitda margins at 50%.
However, the growth witnessed by the company in FY23 has slowed down despite an upswing in events and weddings.
Vedant Fashions reported revenue growth of 76% in FY22 over FY21 and profit growth of 136% during the same period. While the slowdown in the growth rate can be attributed to settling down of revenge shopping post-pandemic, the number of social events has definitely increased to not take notice.
“Market valuations are an indicator of not only present value of a business but also perceived future value, and market leaders usually are rewarded with richer valuations(Page Industries is another such example),” adds Dutta.
The company’s latest presentation states that it has achieved 95% ROCE for FY23. The company is still in an investment stage and its cash flow statement says that INR249 crore is blocked in investments for FY23.
Market outlook
In a market that is lacking growth, the wedding season almost looks like recession-proof. The market has returned to growth mode even at a time when inflation is high and the overall economy is subdued. But then, the Indian wedding market — especially the part that Vedant Fashion tracks — is on a high and the growth will continue for a long time.
While the number of players is increasing, not many have a picture-perfect balance sheet with high ROEs and even higher Ebitda margins. Vedant Fashions has become the classic growth stock with very high valuations. It has a price/book value of 28x but investors feel that for a company that generates a high ROE and a high growth, the valuation is not extreme.
Mutual funds and institutional investors are making a beeline for the stock because of the growth rate and the overall size of the market. According to BSE filings, mutual funds account for 8.90% of the total holding where SBI Mutual Fund has the biggest share at 3.80%. On the other hand, retail holds 1.43%. Post the OFS, these numbers will go up.
The company successfully launched its initial public offering (IPO) last year. The stock debuted at an 8.08% premium over the issue price of INR866. The share slipped more than 4% on May 18 as the promoters announced plans to sell stake in the company.
Since listing, the company has gained 36% and has had a great run with its stock being up by a significant 27% over the last one year as compared to its peer Aditya Birla, which is down by 30.95%, and Nifty 50, up by just 12%.
The Indian apparel market is amongst the top three consumer categories. The pandemic made a lot of consumers switch to the online channel — which was also enabled by easy returns. However, while western apparel in India is a lot more frequently purchased when it comes to the online channel, the offline channel continues to be the primary source of consumers and footfall for ethnic-wear brands. The organised ethnic wear market in India is still relatively small, as the unorganised apparel category, ethnic and otherwise, continues to dominate.
The primary market for the unorganised ethnic wear is mostly women, driven by everyday and wedding wear categories.
According to Euromonitor International, a UK-based market research firm, the Indian apparel market is expected to be at USD58,773.8 million by the end CY23 (excluding the footwear market). The market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 8.6% during CY2023-CY2027.
“The apparel and footwear market experienced significant recovery in 2022 with the easing of Covid-19 restrictions. The industry also benefited from the return of festivals and weddings to their pre-pandemic fervour, as these are periods when the demand for categories such as ethnic apparel and other occasion-based apparel spiked,” says Euromonitor International.
The peer play
Prominent players like Aditya Birla Fashion, Reliance Retail, and Tata-owned Trent are making strategic investments in the country’s thriving ethnic wear market, estimated at INR1.84 trillion.
The recent acquisition of TCNS Clothing by Aditya Birla Fashion further solidifies this ongoing trend. With a transaction value of INR1,650 crore for a controlling stake of 51%, this acquisition highlights the company’s commitment to capitalising on the prevailing market dynamics.
According to Ashish Dikshit, managing director of Aditya Birla Fashion, ethnic wear commands the largest market share in India’s apparel industry, comprising 30% (equivalent to INR1.84 trillion) of the total domestic apparel market valued at INR6.15 trillion, while 80%-85% of the ethnic wear market, according to experts, is dominated by the unorganised segment. The branded or organised end of the market at 15%-20% (around INR28,000 crore – INR37,000 crore in size) is growing at around 20% per annum.
Trent, owned by Tata, has launched a new ethnic wear brand Samoh to increase its market share, as consumers splurge on fresh attire for every event. The new brand will help Trent to compete with Manyavar, and Aditya Birla in the ethnic wear space. The company also has two other fashion retail formats. Its flagship concept, Westside, caters to discerning customers who are aspirational and yet seek value for money. The other format, Zudio, with much smaller stores, operates in a more mass-priced segment. Besides, Trent runs a relatively new concept store, Utsa, which sells its own ethnic and indie wear private labels like Utsa, Zuba, Vark, and Diza.
A growth stock?
The management’s disciplined approach to growth, exemplified by the gradual scale-up of brands like Mohey and Twamev, has been instrumental in mitigating the risks associated with inflated working capital and excessive write-downs. This prudent strategy has safeguarded Vedant Fashions’ profitability and allowed it to maintain sustainable growth without compromising on scalability.
The company’s strong design capabilities with data-driven decision making (leading to no discounted sales), tech-driven supply chain, and auto replenishment model, exclusive vendor ecosystem, and franchise-based EBO expansion have helped scale up its business and achieve superior margins. Most brokerage houses give the stock a “buy” rating.
Manyavar’s decision to team up with some of the country’s top names like Virat Kohli, Ranveer Singh, and Kiara Advani (for Mohey) demonstrates its ambition to capture new markets and connect with a diverse customer base. Continuing the brand’s vision to associate with the best, it reinforced #DulhanWaliFeeling by looping in actress Kiara Advani in January 2023 as the new brand ambassador. With all of them on board, Vedant Fashions hopes to have a joyful journey in style!
By capitalising on their influence, Manyavar solidifies its position as a leading ethnic wear brand in India. But will the company live up to the investors’ expectations? For a growth investor, the answer is yes.
(Published in Economic Times)
