BRND.ME Confident of India Comeback Amid Quick Commerce Private-Label Push

In preparation for its initial public offering (IPO) in India, roll-up commerce business BRND.ME plans to move its headquarters from Singapore to India by March. It will be done once the firm completes a critical regulatory challenge. Swaggy, Instamart, and Zepto are private label powerhouses, but CEO Ananth Narayanan is unconcerned.

He claims that generic retail labels can't compete with the level of brand devotion and complexity seen in BRND.ME's key categories. The company specialises in highly specialised haircare and specialist party supplies, among others.

Why CEO of BRND.ME Optimistic About Indian Market?

In categories where people buy the same thing often, including dairy and basics, private labels are gradually replacing national names. While the company's primary categories do fuel searches, Narayanan thinks they are safe from this invasion. The company is currently capitalising on its four biggest brands—MyFitness (peanut butter), Botanic Hearth (haircare), Majestic Pure (aromatherapy), and PartyPropz (celebration supplies)—after shifting its strategy from aggressive acquisitions to organic expansion.

Quick commerce is the current source of business for ME in India, and the company aims to increase this channel, according to Narayanan. The company has dominated the market for party supplies on platforms that facilitate fast commerce, capitalising on the demand that is driven by impulses. People tend to overlook important dates like birthdays and anniversaries, according to him, thus this is a great niche to establish a reputation for fast commerce. The category generates around 200 crore Indian rupees in income. With MyFitness, the company leads the peanut butter sector as well. It has a 30% market share across all rapid commerce platforms and earns INR 270 crore each year.

Current Financial Outlook and Operations of BRND.ME

Worldwide markets account for 55-60% of the company's revenue run rate, with Europe being the fastest-growing region. The total revenue run rate is approximately $200 million. Approximately 35% of haircare sales are driven by men who are concerned about male-pattern baldness. With Majestic Pure and Botanic Hearth at the helm, the firm plans to increase aromatherapy and haircare sales by a factor of ten, from $6 million to $60 million, in only four years.

Several categories of fast fashion are already showing this dynamic. According to data from Datum Intelligence, the peanut butter market is highly concentrated on Blinkit. Pintola and MyFitness, together, account for around 73% of sales. Other categories have also shown similar trends. As an example, 4700BC and Act II have quickly consolidated into a duopoly in Blinkit's popcorn segment, commanding 99% of sales.