The homegrown Indian footwear brand ‘Bacca Bucci’ failed to impress the sharks in the new episode of ‘Shark Tank India’ season 3.
The business reality show witnessed a pitch of Rs 2.5 crores for one percent equity by Natwar Agrawal and Anuj Nevatia, the founders of ‘Васса Bucci’, a Gen Z, and youth-focused fast-fashion footwear brand.
Васса Bucci offers all possible sub-categories to the youth under one roof- boots for trekking and adventure and sports shoes. They also provide streetwear, and accessories. Started in 2014, they have delivered 30 lakhs plus products till date.
Namita Thapar (Executive Director of Emcure Pharmaceuticals LTD) said: “Please tell us about your background. And how did you think of starting this?”
“We both have chartered accountancy backgrounds. We were doing jobs. I was in loan syndication. Anuj was in EY. When I was doing a job, I needed shoes. When I compared the prices back in 2014, there was a significant difference between online and offline prices,” Natwar said. “In fact, online shoes were expensive and offline shoes were cheap. So we decided to start selling shoes as a side hustle. Gradually, we continued selling and today, we are doing it full-time,” he said.
Anupam Mittal (Founder and CEO of Shaadi.com): “Have you extended your business?” Natwar replied: “It's a category extension. We launched T-shirts in the month of October.”
However, after seeing the products, Deepinder Goyal (Founder and CEO of Zomato) was not impressed and said: “There's no consistency in branding. The design language will score two out of ten.” Vineeta Singh (Co-Founder and CEO of SUGAR Cosmetics) said: “l like the quality.”
Anupam shared: “I think it's not a bad product. It's nice, aspirational and has a funky design. We might not get such products at this price point. However, if we observe it closely, it lacks quality. The finishing of the stitching isn't up to the mark.”
Namita said: “I don't see a USP. Branding... It's important to create a culture. It can't be created on just pricing. I think you should focus on it. But without a clear vision, I'm not excited about this. So I'm out.”
Anupam also gave a suggestion, adding: “Open offline stores to increase the gross margin and to get direct feedback from customers.” ‘Shark Tank India 3’ streams on SonyLIV.
