Vegan beauty brand Plum expects to hit the ₹500-crore annual recurring revenue (ARR) mark this year. The company, which has completed 10 years since inception, is looking to ramp up its offline distribution reach with a sharp focus on its sustainble growth playbook.

Shankar Prasad, Founder and CEO, Plum, told businessline, “The beauty and personal care sector has been witnessing strong demand trends and this is not a temporary spike, but a structural shift amidst rising consumer incomes. Certain segments such as the premium beauty segment are growing at an even faster clip.”

Founded in 2013, Plum’s portfolio consists of over 300 SKUs across categories including skincare, bodycare, haircare and colour cosmetics. Besides online platforms, the brand is also sold through exclusive brand stores as well as general trade and modern trade stores.

“We are now close to hitting the ₹500-crore ARR mark sometime this year. We aim to continue to grow at 35-40 per cent year-on-year. For the most part of this 10-year journey, we have been a profitable company and we will focus on further strengthening those metrics. Our focus will be to grow meaningfully and sustainably to build the brand for the long term,” he added.

While the skincare segment contributes the largest share to the company’s overall business, it has also been witnessing strong growth in other segments such as haircare. “Skincare will continue to be the lead growth driver as we are seeing strong traction in various emerging sub-segments such as serums and sunscreen. At the same time, haircare has also been growing strongly for us. Innovation has been a key pillar of growth. We will focus on launching 2-3 new products per month this year,” he added.

Talking about retail expansion, Prasad said the company aims to ramp up the count of exclusive brand stores to 100 from the current 35 in the next two years. “ We started offline expansion in 2017 with the general trade distribution, It has now grown to over 1,500 assisted counters and over 18,000 unassisted outlets. We believe the total outlet universe in terms of the unassisted store channel for us is estimated at about 1.5 lakh outlets. We believe we will be able to expand the brand’s distribution to this level over the next three years,” he explained.

Plum last raised $35 million in series C round led by A91 partners in March 2022, which also saw participation from existing investors including Unilever Ventures and Faering Capital. Asked about the brand’s strategy for the long-term, Prasad said, “ Our vision for the next ten years is to scale up further to be able to touch a million lives every day through our product portfolio.

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