Ethnic wear startup Suta targets Rs 90 crore revenues in current fiscal
04 November 2024, Mumbai
Ethnic wear startup Suta aims to generate revenues worth Rs 90 crore in the current fiscal. The brand aims to expand different vertical categories, including men’s wear, kids’ wear, and more women’s apparel, notes Sujata Biswas, Co-founder. The brand aims to strengthen these categories as independent channels to drive growth and boost top line, she adds.
The brand’s operating revenue for the fiscal year ending Mar’31, 2024 increased by 33 per cent to Rs 75 crore from Rs 57 crore in 2022-23.
However, the Mumbai-based company's consolidated net profit declined by more than half to Rs 73 lakh from Rs 1.5 crore in the previous year, mainly due to rising total expenses, which rose to Rs 75 crore from Rs 55 crore.
Largely focusing on offline expansion, Suta’s growth was largely driven by the rise in revenues from its offline stores. The company reported revenue growth from existing stores with new further expanding. The brand’s overall revenue from stores rose by 210 per cent Y-o-Y during the fiscal.
Currently, Suta operates 10 offline stores across cities like Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, and Hyderabad, with seven franchise-owned locations and three company-owned stores.
In 2023-24, the startup allocated Rs 21 crore toward stock purchases, Rs 14 crore to employee benefits, and incurred other expenses of Rs 34 crore. The brand’s profit was impacted by a significant rise in customer acquisition costs, with advertising expenses soaring by 54.5 per cent to Rs 17 crore from Rs 11 crore. Biswas attributes this to heightened competition on platforms like Facebook and Google, where the cost per impression and customer acquisition costs have surged.
Founded in 2016 by sisters Sujata and Taniya Biswas, Suta specialises in women’s fashion, offering products like sarees and blouses. The company’s direct-to-consumer (D2C) platform contributed around 63 per cent of total revenue in 2023-24, with an additional 20 per cent coming from marketplaces like Myntra and Ajio, and the rest from offline stores.
