For Nykaa, fashion is the next biggest frontier

Bengaluru: Online beauty retailer Nykaa, which entered the unicorn club recently, is betting big on fashion and has seen sales recover by over 90% compared to pre-covid levels, said a top executive. “Fashion may be nearly 20% of our GMV in the near term. And we are working towards building it to almost 40% of our business in the next 3-5 years … our fashion category is already trending 160% of February levels,” Falguni Nayar, founder and CEO, Nykaa said in an interview. As covid-19 continues to disrupt businesses, Nykaa is capitalising on the trend of offline fashion retailers trying to sell their inventory online, as customers flock to shop virtually. “However, we at Nykaa pride ourselves on a small percentage of our goods being discounted. With offline stores being disrupted, fashion brands want to sell 20-30% of their goods on e-commerce, and with that they are bringing their new seasons online,” she said. “For a lot of fashion brands, which continue to look at India as a strong growth market, and establish a presence, Nykaa is not just an online retailer, but also has a strong omni-channel play with offline stores. And brands are looking to partner with us to not just help them create a presence but also retail their products, creating an end-to-end.” said Anchit Nayar, CEO, Retail, Nykaa.