Wow Skin Science's financial report card in FY23

While leading D2C brands such as MamaEarth and Minimalist managed to double their scale in the last fiscal year, Wow Skin Sciences witnessed a dip in its income along with widening losses as its global presence especially in the US contracted significantly. 

The six-year-old firm's operational income fell 24.1% to Rs 258 crore in FY23 from Rs 340 crore in FY22, according to its annual financial report sourced from the Registrar of Companies (RoC).

Financial FY23

Check detailed 3 year financial comparison on thekredible.com

Wow Skin is an omnichannel beauty and personal care brand which sells its products through offline stores, its own website and marketplaces such as Amazon, Flipkart, and Nykaa. The company has four brands - WOW Skin Science, WOW Life Science, Body Cupid and Nature Derma.

The sale of beauty and personal care products is the only source of income for Wow Skin Sciences. As per the company, its revenue is driven by offline sales at 40,000 retail touchpoints, constituting 25% of the total scale.

Like all D2C beauty and personal care startups, the cost of advertisement and promotion accounted for 41% of the overall expenditure. This cost, however, remained flat at Rs 199 crore in FY23. In the line of scale, its procurement of materials was also down by 22.2% to Rs 123 crore in FY23.

The employee benefits cost, commissions, transportation, packaging, and legal professional fees are some major costs. At the end, Wow Skin Sciences’ overall expenditure stood at Rs 486 crore during the previous fiscal year.

Expense Breakdown

FY22

Total ₹ 480 Cr

FY23

Total ₹ 486 Cr

• Cost of materials

• Employee benefits

• Advertising promotional expenses

• Commission paid sole selling agents

• Transportation and packaging

• Legal fees

• Others

To check complete Expense Breakdown visit thekredible.comView full data

As a result of spurt in expenditure, Wow Skin Sciences saw a 56.6% spike in its losses to Rs 213 crore in FY23 from Rs 136 crore in FY22. Its ROCE and EBITDA margin worsened to -50.79% and -65.62%, respectively, in FY23. On a unit level, it spent Rs 1.88 to earn a rupee of operating revenue.

FY22-FY23

	FY22	FY23
EBITDA Margin	-32.51%	-65.62%
Expense/₹ of Op Revenue	₹1.41	₹1.88
ROCE	-49.94%	-50.79%

In the ongoing fiscal year (FY24), the firm is entering the US market directly unlike its previous stint which was a joint venture with a local partner. On the back of domestic growth and global sales, the company is expecting to post a double digit growth and targets to reach Rs 1,000 crore in revenue by FY26.

Revenue wise, Wow Skin was among the top three D2C beauty brands as of FY22. Currently, MamaEarth, Sugar Cosmetics, MyGlamm (owned by The Good Glamm Group), and Plum are leading the pack. 

Meanwhile, Peak XV Partners-backed MamaEarth is all set to launch its IPO after posting Rs 1,500 crore in total revenue. Sugar, which recorded Rs 222 crore in revenue in FY22, claims to have a 15% surge in its bottomline in FY23. 

Plum is targeting to double its revenue to Rs 500 crore in FY23 whereas The Good Glamm group reported Rs 250 crore of topline in FY22. Their audited FY23 results are yet to be filed.