Half a billion dollar worth Purplle is now taking the next step to take on Nykaa

• Purplle is planning to set up its own network of retail stores.
• Nykaa has 80 stores across 40 cities, even though they contribute less than 10% to its revenue.
• Purplle recently raised $75 million less than two weeks back, reportedly at a valuation of $500 million.

Cosmetics and personal care products ecommerce platform Purplle, which competes with Falguni Nayar-led Nykaa, is planning to set up its own retail stores by March 2022.

The company is still at the early stages of executing this plan and will take concrete steps in this direction by the end this year, Purplle’s Cofounder and Chief Executive (CEO) Manish Taneja told Business Insider.

Purplle — which claims to have an annualised revenue of ₹750 crore — will start a pilot programme by setting up 3-4 stores in one city to test out the traction and the impact it has on the business, before making further plans. The company intends to expand the retail store chain further in the next two-three financial years.

“I think offline is a huge market and we will love to be a player in it as well... We would like to have a significantly solid play in the omnichannel or offline model,” Taneja added.

He believes that the offline stores would help the company get more brand recognition, increase customer’s experience as well as trust. “About 85% of the people in India will still buy offline so why do you leave out that market for someone else,” Taneja said.

Nykaa — which listed on the stock exchange on November 10 at a premium of 77.8% — also relied on this omnichannel approach to gather more customers’ interest and further boost its reputation.

Even though the cosmetics stores make for less than 10% of Nykaa’s overall business, the company still plans to use the proceeds from the recent IPO to set up more retail stores. The company, sitting on a market cap of $14 billion, has 80 retail stores across 40 cities.

Anchit Nayar, chief executive of Nykaa’s beauty ecommerce business, previously highlighted that the omnichannel approach is an important one for them especially in the beauty space. It not only allows the customers to physically test out the product, but also leads to greater trust.

Both Nykaa and Purplle started off their journey in 2012 and 2011, respectively.

Purplle recently raised $75 million less than two weeks back, reportedly at a valuation of $500 million. It will use this capital to enhance its technology stack and incubating as well as acquiring more smaller startups. The company has already acquired three startups in the beauty and personal care space, namely Stay Quirky, Carmesi, Juicy Chemistry.

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