Craftsvilla, etailer rejigs business

After cutting down its team size to half over the last six months, online ethnic fashion retailer Craftsvilla is now restructuring its business to cut cash burn rate and survive in a market, dominated by Myntra-Jabong combine, followed by Amazon Fashion.

Craftsvilla, which recently launched its third private apparel label, is looking to grow in-house brands to 30 per cent of its business in the next six months by launching them on other marketplaces as well as offline stores, and create differentiated verticals for products catering to separate audiences.

Chief marketing and business officer Manish Kalra said at the launch of the portal's apparel label Anuswara that the acquisition in the food space, Places of Origin, runs independently as a brand as well. While the supply side differs for each of the standalone verticals, they all share the same product and technology teams.

The company, which started its private label offering in November last year, plans to launch in-house brand Avanya on other online marketplaces and offline stores within two months. Manoj Gupta, who founded the company with Monica Gupta in 2011, is now taking care of technology and HR. Kalra is also a part of the Craftsvilla board along with founders Manoj and Monica Gupta.

To generate additional revenue Craftsvilla, which acquired logistics technology startup Sendd, also plans to open it up to other businesses for a pay-per-use model. The company now has just 100 people on its rolls, down from 260 in 2016. It claims to have reduced cash burn across functions, including marketing and improved margins to cover the variable costs. It has also put its international expansion plans on backburner, and is inste ad focusing on traffic generated from non-resident Indians living in Southeast Asian countries.

The company, which raised 34 million dollars in 2015 in a round led by Sequoia India and Lightspeed venture partners, does not plan to raise any more external capital. According to data provided by business research platform Tofler, Craftsvilla registered year-on year revenue growth of 113 per cent for 2015-16 while its losses escalated to117 crore to 5.51 crore.