Hello! 👋

D2C Pulse is a newsletter written by the team at GlobalBees, curating happenings in the direct-to-consumer ecosystem of India.

What’s sizzling hot? 🔥

🥥Marico Joins the Gang

Leading FMCG brand and owner of the Parachute and Saffola brands, Marico has been bitten by the ‘Thrasio model’ bug. The company has been on an acquisition spree in the D2C space in the last few years with the acquisition of brands like Just Herbs, Beardo, and True Elements. It now wants to scale up even more D2C brands by bringing synergies through a common tech platform, supply chain, and customer relationship management.

Currently, Marico’s digital brands run under a separate unit, that posted annualized revenue of INR 180-200 Cr. last fiscal year (9% of its overall revenue). The company aims to make this figure reach INR 500 Cr. in the next 2 years.

🌶️Spicy and Tipsy🍸

Last month saw funding in two brands started by young entrepreneurs, that aims to give an instant upgrade to your Friday night drinks and snacks:

• Bored Beverages, an alcohol beverage brand, raised over INR 2.5 Cr. from Inflection Point Ventures and other private investors including Prabhtej Singh Bhatia, (Founder of Simba Beer). The brand aims to bring out newer flavors in ready-to-drink alcohol space with different alcohol percentages, using various traditional and non-traditional ingredients. Their first product is a mead, alcohol made from fermenting Honey.

  India is one of the fastest growing alcoholic beverages market globally, with estimated market size of $52.5 bn as of 2020.

• Naagin, a hot sauce brand highlighting indigenous flavors & spices, raised over USD 1 mn from actor Abhishek Bachchan and 8i Ventures, amongst others. Naagin’s fun name, brilliant packaging, and authentic flavors have created a fanatical and loyal user base. Our personal fav: ‘Smoky Bhoot’.

  • Speaking of tangy food, Spain’s Tomatina, the world’s biggest food fight made a comeback after 2 years.

🗞️Marketplace Updates

• Flipkart is cutting Capex, spends and M&A amid a tightening of the funding environment. Flipkart CEO said that the markets overestimated the digital shift due to Covid.

• Sharing a similar sentiment, American brokerage firm Bernstein’s report on Amazon said that growth in India has come at a high cost ($6.5 billion+) while profitability for the company remains elusive.

• Meta and an e-commerce venture between India’s Reliance Retail and Jio Platforms are bringing grocery shopping to WhatsApp in what they said was a global-first end-to-end shopping experience on the popular instant messaging platform.

• Tata is currently testing an app dedicated to beauty and cosmetics, scheduled to launch in the coming months. Watch out Nykaa!

• Meesho had a full day when the social media stunt with Dada didn’t go as planned. Sourav Ganguly’s team unintentionally revealed that the promotional post is for Meesho. The company took it on the chin and came back with an awesome tweet.

🍕D2C Bites

• Paper Boat Secures $50 Mn From Singapore Sovereign Fund GIC. here’s to looking at more interesting flavours from the folks who gave us our childhood favourites like aam panna and jal jeera in a lovable packaged format.

• Bollywood actor Ranveer Singh is following his better half’s trail and has invested in homegrown beauty company SUGAR Cosmetics at the heels of its $50 Mn Series D raise. 

• Sexual wellness and bedroom essentials startup, My Muse raised $1.2 mn from Saama Capital, Sauce VC, and others. The company roped in influencers like Raunaq Rajani promoting its new range of ‘toys’ for men. Spice things Up!🌶️

• Priyanka Chopra Jonas partners with Nykaa to sell her haircare brand Anomaly in India. Anomaly has a haircare range consisting of solutions such as shampoos, oils, and conditioners for different hair needs.

• Nykaa has launched a slew of international beauty brands in India including Canada’s The Ordinary and the skincare brand Inde Wild.

Brands that caught our eye 👀

🌈Paradise of dyes

Paradyes helps consumers leave behind mundane color palettes featuring black, brown and burgundy and try out bold colors like purple, yellow, and pink, with its natural, semi-permanent hair colors. The product contains a color cream glass jar, a conditioner sachet and a bamboo fibre brush alongside an instruction manual.

These colours last up to 8-10 washes and can be mixed and matched to create a new hue.

🖼️The June Shop

The June Shop offers home Decor that’s fun and minimalistic with aesthetic components that resonate with the Gen Z TG. The company also sells lifestyle products, kitchenware and fashion items, while home décor remains its mainstay.

Trend of the week📈: Influencer-led brands 📷

Probably one of the most overused terms in the past couple of years —creator economy describes those who have been able to capitalize from their output by leveraging digital platforms such as IG, TikTok, Youtube etc., through content creation.

Many creators such as Bhuvan Bam, Madhura Bachal, Faisal Khan, Prajakta Koli have successfully launched their independent e-commerce platforms banking on their social following. Here are few creators and influencers making waves on the D2C circuit with their own brands:

Reads and Recommendations 📚

• The SEO Mind Map to get you started

• Hooks are for fish but in our world Hooks are important for Copy. Here are some ideas

• A step-by-step guide on setting up Google Shopping ads.

Stay tuned for more insights about the D2C ecosystem in India.

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