Purplle: Journey Of a Decade Back in 2012, Manish Taneja, co-founder and CEO of Purplle.com, had a tough time persuading FMCG players to navigate e-commerce territories. Today, the brand is a common household name, successful in carving a niche for itself
By Shrabona Ghosh •
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It's been ten years since the inception of Purplle, an e-commerce beauty platform. Back in 2012, Manish Taneja, co-founder and CEO of Purplle.com, had a tough time persuading FMCG players to navigate e-commerce territories. "From 2012-2014 we convinced naysayers that the business of beauty can be conducted online via e-commerce. It was challenging to persuade FMCG players to navigate e-commerce territories while continuing to build a platform that served the purpose of democratizing beauty for women in the country," said the CEO.
Today, the brand is a common household name, successful in carving a niche for itself. The brand got its first institutional investment in the years 2015 to 2018. The funding was used to build strong technology capabilities that forms the backbone of the organization. "We invested in our proprietary tool The Beauty Intelligence Suite that enables meaningful analysis over millions of beauty data points available across the Internet. The tool predicts possible new product launches enabling us to build data-driven beauty brands and products. This led to the rise of infallible private labels on the platform," said Taneja.
The brand till date has collectively raised INR 1,500 crore of capital and grew the business from an annualized GMV of INR 50 crore to INR 1400 crore. "A strong cap table, with reputed investors, has led to the growth."
The brand has 7 million monthly active users, 1000-plus brands, 50,000 products, six private brands, one home-grown acquired brand and one international brand. Purplle launched its own brand Good Vibes in 2018. The brand has also acquired FACES CANADA.
From metro cities to tier II, tier III, the brand has plans to solidify footprint in every nook and corner of India. "Over 70 per cent of our business comes from the regions beyond metros in the country. Our goal is to provide affordable, accessible, and 100per cent genuine products across the country. To meet regional demand, Purplle has five fulfillment centers across Gurgaon, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bangalore, and Guwahati."
With the advent of the pandemic, the D2C sector has been thriving. Talking about the trends that will flourish in 2022, he said, "Brands with the right tools, knowledge, products and marketing strategies will thrive in this ever-evolving landscape. Some of the key trends are purchases through mobiles, offering personalized and seamless customer experiences with recommendations based on purchase history, keyword searches and augmented virtual reality interactive shopping experiences."
"The D2C sector has evolved multi-fold over the years.Today, a consumer can explore infinite options, compare products and order online without having to go through the tedious process of physical shopping."
In 2022, the brand aims to increase market share in the beauty category both online and offline at a faster pace with best-in-class unit economics in the industry. "We are well capitalized currently and will continue to strengthen our technological capabilities, deepen our talent pool, introduce new and innovative products and brands. We will also invest in entrepreneurs building differentiated beauty offerings and create a treasure chest for potential acquisitions."
