Pure-play online D2C brands step up offline presence to push growth
retail touch points, increasing distribution by 37% year-on-year," Ghazal Alagh, co-founder of Mamaearth, one of India's most prominent direct-to-consumer (D2C) brands, wrote on social media platform X last month.
The post affirmed a strategic pivot on the part of personal care company Honasa Consumer, which owns Mamaearth, to rapidly scale up in physical retail over the past year, much like some of the other large D2C or internet-first brands in the country, while companies such as meat delivery startup Licious and cosmetics firm Minimalist have taken the omnichannel route.
Millet-based snack brand Slurrp Farm, cosmetics makers Just Herbs and Sugar Cosmetics, lingerie brand Zivame, eyewear retailer Lenskart, wearables brand boAt and beauty retailer Nykaa are among those which have opened physical stores.
Challenges to conquer
For such D2C brands, distributing to retail channels is a mixed bag and comes with divergent strategies, including workforce hiring, which is crucial, said executives.
«When a pure play online brand goes into offline, it needs to adapt itself to the new channel at multiple levels, starting with the product assortment itself,» said Arush Chopra, CEO of Just Herbs, in which fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) company Marico has invested. «Products that sell well online may not do as well offline as you are not catering to the 'long tail' niche customer anymore. So tweaks are required in the product strategy.»
According to Chopra, when brands look to go offline through the distributed route,
