Pernia's Pop Up Shop-parent Purple Style Labs Ltd. is moving beyond weddings and lower value segments, towards international markets, premiumisation, and experience centres as it gears up for its initial public offering.
While talking to NDTV Profit on Wednesday, Founder Abhishek Agarwal underlined that the company is focusing on expanding internationally with a long-term ambition to be present in top global cities. International Gross Merchandise Value (GMV), which was once 40%, fell to 20% but he sees scope for recovery.
Aditionally, the company is deliberately moving away from lower-margin, sub-Rs 35,000 products. Women's wear above Rs 1 lakh has risen from 26% to over 40%, while men's wear is nearing 20%, Agarwal pointed out.
The founder addressed concerns related to premium valuations amid mounting net losses and pinned the justification on the company's "very strong" historical growth. The business registered a 60% compound annual growth rate over the last five years.
"Investors are not buying a slow retail story; they're buying a high-growth luxury/omnichannel platform," Agarwal stated, doubling down on the premiumisation bet.
Purple Style labs has set an issue price band between Rs 546 and Rs 575 per share for a total of 1.18 crore shares, as against a market capitalisation of Rs 4,639.63 crore.
Notably, the company's net losses have only increased over the last three years from Rs 47.71 crore to nearly Rs 285.4 crore, according to its red herring prospectus filed with Securities and Exchange Board of India.
However, the founder said the losses occurred primarily due growth stage capital investment in experience centres, and that investors should look at cash flow and operational economics, not just net losses.
To increase cash flow, the company is clamping down on brands on the platform from 1,900 to 1,100 and cutting marketing spend from 54% to 30%.
ALSO READ: Bollywood-Backed Wedding Fashion Retailer Purple Style Labs To Sell Shares In IPO
Beyond The Wedding Altar
"Festivals are seasonals, weddings are not," Agarwal remarked while addressing claims regarding seasonality of weddings. At the same time he said that the company is positioning itself beyond wedding wear and plays in the luxury consumption segment more broadly.
Agarwal also expanded on recent projects and the company's high average order value, which stood at Rs 75,000 overall. For physical stores AOV came in at Rs 90,000, and for online shoppers the AOV was lowest at Rs 38,000.
He stressed that the current expansion is expected to show results in the next 12–18 months, adding "large stores were opened in FY26, so this is the first full year of operations for many of them."
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