Fireside Ventures backed lifestyle direct-to-consumer (D2C) brand FS Life, formerly known as FableStreet aims to close FY23 on the back of net revenue ranging between Rs 65-70 crore, Ayushi Gudwani, founder, FS Life told Brandwagon Online. “We are prudent with our operations and hence expect to close the year with a net loss of Rs 6-7 crore. The loss is largely due to the fact that we are expanding and growing our business,” she said.
Furthermore, the company claims to aim for a net revenue of Rs 150-200 crore in FY24, on the back of net loss of Rs. 15-20 crore. According to Gudwani, the rise in loss is mainly due to the brand foraying into brick-and-mortar stores. “We plan to launch our first store with an average size of 1000×1500 sq ft. in the first quarter of FY24. We also plan to enter metro cities including Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru,” she said, adding that net loss will not widen but capex will grow. “We will run the stores also in a financially prudent way with aim of making individual stores profitable within the first three to six months of operations,” she claimed.
The company posted a 158% increase in revenue from sales of good manufactured to Rs 26.9 crore in FY22 from Rs 10.4 crore in FY21, according to regulatory filings accessed by business intelligence platform, Tofler. While net loss widened 41% to Rs 1.7 crore in FY22 from Rs 1.2 crore during the same period in the corresponding year.
According to lifestyle brand, it clocks 50,000 orders per month. Of this 15,000 orders are directly clocked by the company website, while the remaining comes from marketplaces such as Myntra. Of the direct orders of 15,000 clocked by the company, it claims that the rate of return is typically five to six percent. “As for the cost of customer acquisition, as we run various offers, the amount spent is less compared when we compare a new customer to a returning consumer. For instance, in case of a new customer CAC can be Rs 1500, this however reduces to about Rs 300-400 in case of returning buyers,” she explained.
FS Life claims to have focussed on creating apparel as per India body types. Recently, the brand onboarded Sonankshi Sinha, Huma Qureshi and Srinidhi Shetty as its ambassadors. “We have invested 30% of our revenue into marketing,” she noted.
The company which sells three sub-brands namely FableStreet, Pink Fort, Mikoto claims that its average ticket price is about Rs 3,000. The company claims that bottom wear is the best performing category which accounts for 20% of the total sales. Metro cities including Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru accounts for 60% of the overall sales and while tier 2 and non-metro cities account for remaining 35-40%. “We plan to raise $20-25 million in the second half of FY24,” she said. The western wear brand also claimed to have raised funds in a pre-series B round Rs 50 crore led by its existing investor, Fireside Ventures in FY23.
