Aditya Birla Fashion to create D2C biz platform

Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail Ltd (ABFRL) announced on Friday that it will set up a platform to foray into the Direct-to-Consumer (D2C) business. The plan was approved unanimously in a board meeting today. The company will set up a new subsidiary towards building a portfolio of new-age, digital brands across categories such as beauty, fashion and other allied lifestyle segments. 

ABFRL said that the D2C portfolio will be built through organic and inorganic means, and will initially be funded through the company’s internal accruals.

The company said that it will bring in external capital gradually to accelerate growth. The D2C market opportunity is expected to reach $100 billion by 2025.

The new entity will also incubate and acquire other D2C brands. ABFRL will offer its rich experience and capabilities to scale up the portfolio. 

Ashish Dikshit, Managing Director, ABFRL said, “At ABFRL, 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.”

The company will now accelerate the process of building the framework and will identify key talent to this end. It will also tap into the tech ecosystem and collaborate with its ecommerce partners, tech service providers, digital marketing agencies to scale the business. 

ABFRL, part of the Aditya Birla Group, has a bouquet of leading fashion brands and retail formats under its belt. As of December 2021, the company had a network of 3,370 stores across approximately 26,744 multi-brand outlets with over 6,751 points of sale in department stores across India. Louis Philippe, Van Heusen, Allen Solly and Peter England are leading brands established for over 25 years, while Pantaloons is one of India’s largest fast fashion store brands. The company has forayed into branded ethnic wear businesses including Tasva, Jaypore and strategic partnerships with designers including Shantanu & Nikhil, Tarun Tahiliani and Sabyasachi.

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