Nykaa acquires 20Dresses to enhance private label play

Omnichannel fashion portal Nykaa has been expanding its vertical operations since 2015. Started as a online cosmetic e-tailer, it sold products in categories like skincare, hair care, luxury, bath and body, and fragrances for both males and females. It later forayed into selling lingerie, kidswear accessories, and beauty products for men.

It also separated the section for personal care products for men into a new website called NykaaMan.

However, the one of the most crucial development in Nykaa’s story was its offline expansion. In 2015, it started operating as a omnichannel retailer with now 17 stores across the country. These stores have two formats, Nykaa Luxe or Nykaa On Trend. It also started providing in-house beauty products under its private labels.

Taking this business of private labels further, the Falguni Nayar led company has acquired women’s styling platform 20Dresses.com for an undisclosed sum.

20Dresses’ team is expected to join the company and help expand and enhance its private label product chain.

This development comes after the news that Nykaa had been looking at SoftBank for a $150-200 million funding. Last year it had raised Rs 75 crore in April from its existing HNI backers. Later in September, it had raked in Rs 113 crore from Lighthouse Advisors, giving a secondary exit to TVS Shriram Growth Fund.

The funding from SoftBank, however, hasn’t been confirmed yet. It was supposed to help Nykaa expand its offline presence to about 50-55 stores by March 2020. The funds were also expected to help drive the private label functions.

The plans to increase offline presence come around a time where Nykaa’s indirect competitor Myntra has been shutting down offline shops due to accumulating losses. However, Nykaa’s financial performance looks to be more on the positive side, as reported by TechCircle.

The revenue in FY18, for the company, also took a 2.7X jump to Rs 570 crore from Rs 214 crore in FY17. In FY19, i.e. the fiscal ending 9 days later, Nykaa claims to be turning profitable.