Koovs sees stagnated growth in FY19 with mere 6.8% increase in revenue

Koovs, an India focussed online fashion retailer based out of London has shown an almost stagnant, if not negative, growth in its financial performance for FY19.

As per media reports, the revenues and losses both have increased, but the magnitude of this bump is not high enough for it to be analysed as a growth stage pattern, and the figures also lie in the same range as the last fiscal - meaning the company has not shown any significant change in its performance since the beginning of FY18.

Koovs clocked a revenue of Rs 59 crore in FY19, which is 6.8% up from Rs 54.3 crore in FY18. Similarly, and unfavourably, the losses also grew by 2.7% from Rs 134.27 crore in FY18 to Rs 137.9 crore in FY19. The fact that losses grew by a lesser percentage and number than revenue is the only positive factor.

Operating expenses, a figure that any company tries to minimise to increase their margins and move towards profitability, also grew by 12%, where the gross order value fell by 6% to Rs 117.8 crore in FY19. Meaning, that whatever minimum increase in overall revenue was also a result of improvements in the other revenue-generating activities like factors contributing to other income, or revenue from services if any.

However, Lord Waheed Ali, Chairman at Koovs told Mint that the company witnessed 104% growth in Q1 trading for FY20 and is positive about the development in the remaining fiscal based on its investment in marketing and product range.

Further Mary Turner, the CEO of the company also issued a statement saying that the company plans to continue increasing its trading margins and again go back to significantly improving its financial performance in FY18.

However, it seems like a difficult plan to execute given the dominance of Myntra in the Indian market as both an online marketplace for third-party sellers as well as when it comes to selling its private labels.

Owned by Flipkart and Walmart, Myntra has no dearth of money and popularity that works to maintain its dominance in the market. Koovs, on the other hand, relies on Kishore Biyani led Future Lifestyle Fashions to sell its product offline and as a source of significant funding in India.

Last year, out of the $22 million raised by Koovs, $5.8 million came from Future Group. This fiscal $10.5 million have been committed by the group, with $3.7 million already invested out of the total.