From beauty and male grooming to apparel and packaged food, a slew of home-grown direct-to-consumers (D2C) and digitally native brands across categories have begun charting their global journey. With evolving consumer needs, especially in the pandemic times, these new age brands are not only accelerating expansion plans for the domestic market but are also feeling time is ripe to to disrupt categories in international markets.

Take for instance Bombay Shaving Company which has already started operations in Nepal and Bangladesh and is soon planning launches in GCC markets, Sri Lanka and Australia. In FY23, it is planning to start operations in markets such as the US, Canada, the UK, New Zealand and Africa after getting good interest for its products in these markets.

Shantanu Deshpande, Founder & CEO, Bombay Shaving Company said, “The categories where we operate in – men’s grooming and women shaving and hair removal solutions – have been low in innovation globally and with changing consumer needs are now ripe from disruption. We are seeing a staggering demand not just from Indian diaspora but also international consumers. We see the international channel achieving salience for us in a span of 18-24 months and adding 10-15 per cent to our overall company revenue.”

Food and wellness brands

Millet-based packaged food brand Slurrp Farm has been ramping-up its international presence not just in India but also in markets such as the UAE, Singapore and the UK. Digitally native wellness brand Vahdam has been sharply focusing on building a strong international presence as it takes Indian teas and superfoods to markets like the US, the UK, Canada and Germany among others.

The pandemic also made yoga and wellness start-up Sarva look at offering online personalised training to global consumers.

Experts pointed out that some of the founders of these brands aspired to go global from day 1 as a strategy, while others have begun exporting or setting up international operations after seeing strong interest from international consumers, including the Indian diaspora.

Tanvi Malik, Co-Founder & CEO, FabAlley & Indya said that the company now ships to 35 countries and a third of its direct-to-consumer revenues comes from international markets. The international demand is being fuelled by Indian diaspora consumers especially during festivals and the wedding season, she added.

The Man Company began selling to international consumers last year through Amazon. “After testing waters, we have now identified opportunities in certain markets such as the UAE. So we will keep exploring and wherever we get the right partner, we will expand,” said Hitesh Dhingra, Co-Founder, The Man Company.

“We have already started selling in a few markets overseas including the US, Malaysia, Philippines, Kenya, Nepal and Bangladesh. We were getting good inbound interest from these markets and therefore, decided to address it more formally. So far, the response has been encouraging, although exports contribution to our revenue is still small. Given that we are positioned as a clean brand based on global standards, brand acceptance is great across markets, we will continue this expansion in the coming years even as we make the most of the India opportunity,” said Shankar Prasad, Founder and CEO of Plum, a D2C beauty and personal care brand.

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