Aditya Birla Fashion to foray into D2C business

Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail Ltd (ABFRL), has announced plans to set up a platform for foraying into the Direct to Consumer (D2C) business.

The Board has approved a proposal to set up a new subsidiary for building a portfolio of “distinct, new-age, digital brands across categories in fashion, beauty and other allied lifestyle segments.”

“The D2C portfolio will be built through organic and inorganic means. This venture will initially be funded through ABFRL’s internal accruals. At an appropriate time, the company will look to bring in external capital to accelerate the growth journey,” the company said in a statement. The newly incorporated entity will organically incubate and also acquire promising and scalable D2C brands.

Other than providing growth capital, ABFRL will utilise its experience and capabilities to scale up this portfolio. Ashish Dikshit, Managing Director, ABFRL said, “We want to build the next set of iconic brands in the digital space as we evolve with our changing consumers. Leveraging our core capabilities around design, product creation, sourcing and brand building that have enabled us to create some of India’s most loved fashion brands in the offline space, we now wish to craft a blockbuster portfolio in the digital space as well.” “We are confident that this foray will successfully meet the aspirations of digitally native customers and also create long-term value for investors and other stakeholders,” he added.

The company will now accelerate the process of building the D2C framework and identifying key talent for this play.

ABFRL will look to tap into the broader tech ecosystem and collaborate effectively with its e-commerce partners, tech service providers, digital marketing agencies to scale this business rapidly, the company added.

The company on Friday reported its third quarter salesgrew by 44% year on year to ₹2987 crore, while PAT increased 237% to ₹197 crore.