BRND.ME unfazed by quick commerce’s private-label push as it charts India return

Despite the rise of private labels from instant commerce giants like Swiggy Instamart and Zepto, CEO Ananth Narayanan remains confident. He argues that BRND.ME’s core categories, which include complex, value-added products like specialty hair care and niche party supplies, have a level of brand loyalty and sophistication that is difficult for mainstream retail labels to emulate. While private labels are currently displacing national brands in high-frequency basic categories like dairy and staples, Narayanan believes the company’s core categories that drive searches are safe from this encroachment.

Shifting its strategy from aggressive acquisitions to organic scaling, the company is now doubling down on its four largest brands: MyFitness (peanut butter), Botanic Hearth (hair care), Majestic Pure (aromatherapy) and PartyPropz (celebration supplies).

Narayanan said around 10-15% of BRND.ME’s India business currently comes from flash trading, a channel the company plans to scale. The company is a leader in batch supply on flash trading platforms and benefits from impulse-driven demand. “People forget birthdays and anniversaries, so building a brand on flash commerce is a classic category,” he said. The category contributes to: ₹200 crore income. The company is also the leader in the peanut butter category through MyFitness, with a 30% market share and annual revenue across all flash trading platforms. ₹270 crore.

The company’s revenue ratio is approximately $200 million, of which 55-60% comes from international markets, of which Europe is the fastest growing. Male consumers concerned about male pattern baldness now account for approximately 35% of hair care sales. The company aims to increase aromatherapy and hair care sales 10-fold from $6 million to $60 million in four years, led by Majestic Pure and Botanic Hearth.

Drawing on his experience of running Myntra, Narayanan said private brands usually have a ceiling. “Even when we pushed hard on private brands at Myntra, they did not exceed 25-30% of the overall portfolio. This continues to be the case as it is very difficult to relocate the categories we operate in as we drive searches.”

This dynamic can already be seen in many swing trading categories. According to data from Datum Intelligence, the peanut butter segment is largely consolidated in Blinkit; Pintola and MyFitness together account for approximately 73% of sales. Similar patterns emerged in other categories. Blinkit’s popcorn segment, for example, quickly evolved into a duopoly, with 4700BC and Act II controlling 99% of sales.

Private labels come into play

While Blinkit has consciously avoided launching private label products on its platform, Swiggy has done so through Noice and Zepto has done so through Relish and Daily Good. It is becoming increasingly difficult for established brands to ignore these private labels. Swiggy has aggressively scaled Noice, expanding its portfolio from around 200 to 350 stock keeping units (SKUs) and moving beyond food staples into categories like beverages and ready-to-cook foods, while onboarding more manufacturing partners. These products aim to offer significantly higher margins of 35-40%, compared to 10-15% on third-party brands, Mint previously reported.

Private labels now contribute an estimate Flash trading sales have increased to 6-8% from 1-2% two years ago, according to data from 1digitalstack.ai.Access to perishable products remains limited due to the complexity of the supply chain and quality concerns. A broader push into new categories could increase private label share to 10-15%. According to 1digitalstack.ai dara, Noice captured 3.4% of wafer sales and 1.9% of biscuit sales on the platform within a few months of its launch. Both categories are dominated by Lay’s and Britannia, which have around 35% market share in their respective segments.

Zepto’s private label products include Relish for meat products, Daily Good for staples, Chyll and Aaha! for ice cubes and juices. It covers many daily categories including. for snacks, desserts, cereals and pastries.

This growing presence creates a structural ‘trap’ for digital-first brands. Devangshu Dutta, managing director of Third Eyesight, a consultancy, said: “Brands that are overly reliant on a single sales platform remain structurally vulnerable to being displaced by the platform’s own private labels designed to capitalize on product opportunities that have already proven in demand.” He explained that platforms tend to dominate high-frequency purchases, often undercutting brands on both price and visibility.

Persistently high online customer acquisition costs are adding to the pressure, especially when customer relationships belong to the platform rather than the brand. “This has been one of the major friction points for all digital-only brands and places a particularly heavy burden on companies with online-heavy portfolios where multiple brands operate,” Dutta added.