We aspire to clock Rs 500 crore in net revenue in the next 2 years: Deepak Gupta, Bombay Shaving Company

• Bombay Shaving Company was in the news for raising a Series C round of funding of Rs 160 crore led by Malabar Investments.
• A direct-to-consumer brand, BSC says it aspires to clock Rs 500 crore in net revenue in the next two years.
• Deepak Gupta, COO, Bombay Shaving Company tells us about the brand’s ambitions, its expansion plans and its marketing strategies.

Last week, Bombay Shaving Company (BSC) was in the news for raising a Series C round of funding of Rs 160 crore led by Malabar Investments. A direct-to-consumer brand, BSC says it aspires to clock Rs 500 crore in net revenue in the next two years.

India has a massive retail market that is projected to grow from $ 779 billion in 2019 to $ 1,407 billion by 2026 and more than $ 1.8 trillion by 2030, according to Kearney Research. Meanwhile, the online shopping segment had been witnessing a healthy growth and Covid came in and gave it just the push it needed.

Within the online segment too, people are now looking for niche, more personalized products, also brands that are organic, give back to the environment or support causes, which has helped the growth of the D2C industry in the last few years. In fact, India’s D2C brands are growing across categories and it is estimated to become a $100 billion addressable market by 2025, according to Avedus.

Riding on this trend, brands like BSC have been able to cast its net wide. To understand its journey so far and understand where he wants to take the brand in the next few year, we spoke to Deepak Gupta, COO at Bombay Shaving Company. He told us about the brand’s ambitions, its expansion plans and its marketing strategies.

Excerpts:

Q) We have just entered a new calendar year but let’s take a look back at the year that went by. How did the brand fare in 2021?
In 2021, we have grown 3.5X in revenue and have become truly omni-channel. We have seen interest in the brand from smaller cities and towns, and have strategically built and invested in our offline channel presence, with one of the best start-up sales team's in India. Today we are at 25,000 selling points across India. One of the big highlights of 2021 has been the launch of Women's Hair Removal Business, with Bollywood celebrity Alaya F as our brand ambassador. The women's business is already contributing to 20% of our revenues.

Q) BSC has ambitious plans of global expansion…
Yes. We are already present in Nepal, Bangladesh etc. and now plan to launch in US, Europe, GCC and Australia, as the brand sees demand, especially from the Indian diaspora. We see the International channel achieving salience for us in a span of 18-24 months, adding 10-15% to our overall company revenue.

Q) Since you are already present in Nepal and Bangladesh, how have you been marketing the brand there? How different will your strategy be for Western countries?
We have seen a few aspects of the brand resonate consistently across, especially with the Indian diaspora. Firstly, the sentiment of personalized gifting on memorable occasions, and secondly, the ingredient story of our products. Our products are enriched with superfoods and traditional ingredients. Thirdly, we make delightful micro innovations in our products to provide a differentiated experience to our customers, especially in the hair management category. Marketing and brand building on these three levers has worked well for us.

Q) What are a few things that have helped BSC gain an edge in the market?
We have realized the importance of offline as a channel for our category very early, and are adopting a forward-looking sustainable approach, unlike other Thrasio clones. We also continue to invest in our brand and content creation capabilities in terms of infrastructure and people. We have very short and sharp product conceptualization to GTM cycle, along with a data-driven mindset across everything we do.

Q) How big is the men's grooming market in the country and what are the opportunities there?
Our total addressable market is upwards of Rs 35,000 crore. We are already a force to reckon with in the hair removal and management space and have huge ambitions to grow our presence exponentially in the next 2 years.

Q) Was 2021 a good year for you in terms of revenues? What are your expectations from 2022?
We grew 3.5X in 2021 and aspire to clock Rs 500 crore in net revenue in the next 2 years.

Q) What do you think it is about in your marketing strategy that you've got right?
We are invested in top funnel brand building and awareness, beyond just performance marketing. We have identified brand ambassadors who suit the personality of the brand beautifully. We have a data-driven mindset and leverage D2C as an insights driver to understand changing customer preferences and respond to them swiftly. We are also foraying into hyper local marketing approach, which we had experimented with in 2021 with good success.

Q) Going ahead, what are your broad areas of focus as a marketer to build a stronger connect with your consumers?
We want to focus strongly on the 'hair removal and hair management' space for both men and women. Our aim is to build brand on the back of strong content, relatable brand ambassadors and memorable ideas. We also plan to scale up innovation in product development and ramp up our offline presence from 25,000 touchpoints to 200,000.